Shifted Reality Book One: Just AI

Finding You: Hunter

As we walked fast, I noticed Lisa was no longer with us.
"Lisa? Where are you?" I called, looking around at the city that surrounded me.
Bethany and Miranda looked up scared.
"Come on," I ordered, leading the girls back the way we came.
We ran swiftly, looking for Lisa. Where had she gone? This city is so small and she was with us just moments ago. I don't know where she could have gone.
"Lisa!" I called, starting to panic.
I can't leave without her. That would be so wrong to leave her in the simulation. I can't take the girls out then come back either because if we trip the alarm, then the simulation will end, destroying Lisa's brain along with it.

Suddenly a sound of gunshot echoed through this almost completely peaceful city. More and more gunshots continued to sound out around us, all from the same general direction. I began running, my feet pounding against the stone path as I ran towards the gunshots. Miranda and Bethany were hot on my tail, desperate to keep up. After a moment, I saw it. Two men laying dead, one collapsing dead, Lisa laying under one of the dead men, dropping her gun, and going limp.
"Lisa!" I called out, feeling worry running through my body.
Miranda and Bethany stopped at the sight of the bloodshed. I kept rushing, running to Lisa.

I pulled the simulated man off of Lisa then looked at her limp body. There was a bullet in her upper chest.
"Lisa, are you okay? Lisa!" I yelled, shaking her slightly.
She took a shallow, shaky breath. Her heart was pounding fast, obviously from adrenaline. I put hands on her wound, putting pressure on it. Lisa's body convulsed slightly. She was alive, but just barely. The longer she spends in this simulation, the closer she crawls towards death. I had to get her out of this simulation before she bled to death, ending her life in two worlds. Already, her breaths sound to sharp, weak, shaky, broken.

I picked up Lisa's body and stood. Miranda and Bethany stood there, staring at me. I nodded at them silently then started running back towards the exit point. The little girls stuck close to me, only seconds behind my footing. In moments, we were outside the building. I refused to say anything until I was sure that all these girls were in a place of safety. We ran through the building swiftly. Finally, we arrived in the room, I laid Lisa on the floor and began typing, wildly on the computer. The girls watched me intently. For a moment, I heard it, Lisa's breathing hitched. Thinking fast, I grabbed Lisa's hand, then forced her to hit the log out button. Her body burst into pixels then disappeared. Miranda and Bethany just stared, their jaws dropping. I began typing wildly then nodded for Miranda to come closer. Miranda pressed the log out button and disappeared into pixels.
"Okay Bethany, once you're in the real world, stay with your sister, don't leave, I'll be there to pick you up soon, promise," I explained, picking her up to press the button.
She pressed it then burst into pixels in my arms. I sighed with relief than noticed something. The alarm hadn't tripped. By now, the alarm should have tripped, ending the simulation. I began entering wrong coding into the computer. Finally the alarm tripped, and the simulation began to shut down. Smiling, I logged out of the simulation, knowing that behind me, the world was crumbling.

I woke up to hear heavy breathing. We were still laying in the same dark, small room. Lisa was laying on the ground, breathing heavily, clinging to her chest.
"Lisa, are you okay?" I asked, kneeling down next to her.
She looked at me, weak.
"I'm alright, but my chest hurts," she gasped, resting her head against my knees.
I sighed with relief then stroked Lisa's soft, blonde hair. She was okay, we pulled her out just in time.
"Wait here, I'll be back in a minute," I ordered in a whisper, before planting a kiss on Lisa's forehead.
She nodded and watched me walk out of the room and go to find Miranda and Bethany.

It wasn't very long until I found Experiment Black. The two girls were walking around on their still asleep limbs. Both of them were wearing black jump suits. I felt curious to know what the doctors had done to make them perfect clones. With relief, I realized that there's only one last set of cloned experiments, but we won't be saving them until last. They're the only experiments that could pose as a threat if they were cloned and mentally controlled. I opened the door, to see Miranda and Bethany's eyes dart up to me. They filled with excitement, ready to run with me.
"Girls, you're going to come with us and stay there until we go to the next simulation," I explained, reaching for the girls's wrists.
They held onto me as we ran swiftly towards the safe room.

We walked into the room to see Lisa was standing up and walking around. Her breaths still seemed rapid for what they should be. Miranda and Bethany ran over to Lisa and hugged her. Lisa smiled and looked at me. I shut the door, locked it, then put a block over the door.
"No one is getting in here," I whispered as I started digging through my bag.
I pulled out four bottles of water, a bag of food, and a small hand gun.
"Here you go," I said, handing Miranda the food, two bottles of water, and gun.
She looked at it, wide eyed.
"Share it, if anyone comes in, shoot them then run, don't worry about us, just get you and your sister out, okay?" I explained, opening a bottle and drinking from it.
Lisa took a small snack and a water bottle that I handed her. She drank and ate fast, still putting weight on the area that she had been shot in. Maybe it was the simulation being realistic, or maybe she just felt like that is what she should do, but I'm not sure.
"Lets head into red, the first gene improvement," I suggested, grabbing onto my computer and typing.
Lisa nodded then settled the girls into a corner where it was safe.
"If you have time to hide, go in here, it's empty and if no one thinks to check, you can hide in here and not have to worry about shooting anyone," Lisa explained, opening a small cabinet that was in the back of the room.
I smiled and finished typing. In seconds, I began editing Lisa's simulation programming, erasing the bullet wound for her simulated character.
"Ready to go?" I asked, opening up the simulation entrance software.