CHAPTER TWO
Well that just ruined the party. Frank and Michelle made their speech and left for the calm beaches of the Great Barrier Reef, of Northern Australia.
The lovely couple was leaving us for 2 weeks.
"You want to go house sit for them and finish that 'Vampire Marathon'." She said as calmly as a person can when a soulless machine takes over the world.
"One ring to rule them all, curse my memory of good movies. I should have said something equally lame like 'well we would have gone with the care bears but that was uh taken.' Or 'I ate a lot of sugar today'. Huh vampire marathon ok as long as there is a lot of wine cause something just took over the world. I would love some senseless violence or bloodsucking." In my mind I was running in terror.
*****
We were supposed to house sit anyways, so we just let our selves into Frank and Michelle's house or apartment, whatever you want to call it. We got the wine that was in the fridge from the previous night.
"The movie is already in the player I can just turn it on." I said not wanting more than to escape into a good movie. I pressed play and then poured my self a glass of wine. I brought the bottle with me so we didn't have to get up. The movie started with a normal introduction. About how vampires are real, and that the movies are a comforting fairytale compared to the real thing. Yada yada, I had heard it all before so I didn't pay much attention to it. The apartment consisted of a big window, it let in the light. Frank had did not have many lights in the living room. But that was because of the huge window. Natural light was better for the eyes, he was always saying. His living room was interrupted with a small kitchen, separated by a small wall. The oven and burners were on the far wall and coated in shiny stain-less steel. Extruding from the small wall, just perpendicular to the oven, was the sink and the counters to prepare the food on.
Across from the kitchen, we sat watching the movie. Chloie didn't notice that I wasn't watching the predicable, bordering on boring, vampire movie. I was watching her, studying her movements, her posture said a lot about her. What it said was that she was a strong person and didn't care what people thought about her. She fought against the world. She took pleasure in almost everything that she did. She was never shy.
The end of the movie came faster than I predicted.
"That was awesome." She yelled at the beginning of the credits. Her yell woke me up out of my daze. But I continued to watch her. She asked me what my favorite part was. After a while of thinking of something to say, I mumbled something.
"You did not watch it did you." She said accusingly. She gasped and said, "Well we have to watch it again."
"No once was enough. I just can't think of a particular part that I liked the most." I had said that a little too quickly, and she looked at me with a quizzical look. When she looked at me she noticed I hadn't moved from that spot.
"Do I have something on my face," she asked, "I didn't think I had anything on it."
"Not yet." I thought.
"You ok, Chris, WAKE UP." She yelled at me. I thought I was dreaming so when I 'woke up'. I was surprised to see the scene had not changed.
"I am AWAKE, why did you yell at me. I was awake. I just don't talk much. And I was studying you. Watching your posture how you held yourself. You can tell a lot from a person by their posture." I tried not to let out that I was fixated on her.
"Right, so you staring at me through out the WHOLE movie has nothing to do with the fact that you like me." She said it like it was common knowledge. I thought I had hid it a little better than I had. But then I remembered that I had told her earlier that day. I blushed deeply. I might have been able to hold my own against a plum. I started to laugh nervously. I couldn't stop. I needed to calm down. I needed to breathe. I got up and rushed to the bathroom. I got in the tub and sat down. After a second or two I calmed down and took some very deep breaths. I heard a knock at the door.
"Come on in if you want to see me in a compromising position." I said this hoping she wouldn't come in. But she must have known I was lying or she just didn't care. The tub I was in was basic white porcelain, but it was the biggest tub I had ever been in. it had a moveable shower head. The water spout for the tub looked very decorative, too decorative for a guy's apartment. But I had then remembered that Michelle had moved in with him a year earlier. But the spout looked like a white swan shooting water out of its mouth.
Chloie knocked again except this time it was on the tub's door. I jumped a little.
"You didn't think that saying you were in a compromising position was going to stop me." She said with an odd grin on her face. "That laugh was an odd one, do you always laugh so hard." I nodded yes and now it was her turn to laugh.
"Want to come in, there is enough room for the both of us and it is a great place to calm one's self." I said trying to be so very calm. She stepped in and sat down. She had stopped laughing. The computer sensors in the house saw that there were two people in the tub. The computer popped out a panel in the tub. The panel was next to me. From my point of view it looked like it was coming straight at me. I shrieked then I saw what it was and calmed down. There was a note amongst the contents of the panel. "Have fun you two. Love, Michelle and Frank." The contents were massage oils.
"Funny, very funny, those two need to get a life other then trying to plan ours." I thought I had said it under my breath, but apparently I was too loud.
"Chris, what are those bottles?" Chloie asked. I picked one up and turned it towards her. Once she saw the bottle she laughed and stuck out her foot. "So get with the massaging already." I grasped her foot with all delicacy, afraid to tickle her. Or cause her pain and end up with a foot colliding with my nose. I poured a generous amount of lavender scented oil into my hands. I rubbed my hands together to warm and spread out the oil amongst my palms. I grasped her foot again. I started to rub the arch of her foot.
"You're not going to hurt me, use some force. Right now you are just attempting to tickle me." She started to push her foot into my hand to prove she wanted it a little harder. Well I could do that. I hadn't studied physical therapy for nothing, you know. I was good at massaging the muscles till they relaxed.
I rubbed harder; I also started to move to the ball of her foot. Pushing my fingers against the ball of her foot and rubbing them all the way to the tip of her toes. Once I massaged all her little toes I started back down her foot. I went back to the arch of her foot. I started down her foot. Rubbing her heal in a circler motion. Once finished with that foot I gently placed it down on the porcelain. By this time she had stretched out and totally relaxed. I picked up her other foot, starting with the ball of her foot this time. I continued these actions till we finished the bottle. In the last 5 minutes she fell asleep.
She looked so peaceful. I placed the foot I had been rubbing down carefully, so not to wake her. I stood up and got out of the tub. It took a minute to get feeling in my legs again. When I looked back upon the sleeping angel draped on the porcelain, I thought. "Even if I wake her now, I have been rubbing her feet for an hour. She wouldn't be able to stand."
So I did the next logical thing. I leaned down into the tub and got my arm behind her neck. I got my other hand under her knees, with more difficulty, but I managed to do this without waking her. I lifted her slowly. It was hard not to drop her. My muscles had not been used in a while for heavy lifting. I'm not saying that Chloie is heavy, just human sized. I managed to get her to the bedroom. I laid her down carefully upon the comforter. I rested her head on the fluffy white pillows.
I didn't want her waking up and thinking something happened, so I left the room and fell asleep upon the green couch. The couch was mostly as comfortable as a thin mattress on a metal cot.
I woke up every hour. I would check on Chlo, and then drink some water, then go back to sleep. Once I woke up at eight I decided to stay up. I made breakfast for Chloie. I thought breakfast in bed would be nice. I looked in the fridge to see what Frank hadn't thrown out. I found eggs, bacon, and some fruit, all that was needed to make a well rounded breakfast. Frank had milk and some oil, so I decided to make scrambled eggs. I found a pan and put the olive oil in it along with some butter. I whisked the eggs into a foamy texture. I poured them into the pan and soon enough I had eggs that were cooked to perfection. I kept them warn in a lightly heated oven. In the same pan I started to fry up the bacon. I got out the fruit and chopped away. Some of the grease jumped out of the pan and landed on my naked back. I jumped up and screamed. Not two minutes later Chloie came running out of the bedroom with a baseball bat.
I saw the bat and immediately screamed, "I am fine, don't hit me."
"So you can cook, that's an attractive quality in a guy. The shriek wasn't."
I giggled while I dished up. "I'm sorry normally I would take the bat and beat the person sense-less."
"And you stopped why?" She tried to hide her smile but I could see it forming.
"Well you're a girl."
"Brilliant deduction, Sherlock."
"I was not finished. I do not hurt women." She left it at that and sat down at the table. Loving everything I cooked, I was designated cook for while Frank and Michelle were away. We decided to check out the back yard, for neither of us had been here since… well since Frank let Michelle decorate the place. We end up gawking at the huge, clear, blue pool with the medical symbol at the bottom. After all Frank and I were doctors. So I guess he wanted to make the symbolism clear.
I start pulling off my clothes, to go swimming, quickly forgetting that I had someone with me. I had gotten down to my boxers before I realized there was a pair or gorgeous brown eyes watching me. They were slightly intrigued, but mostly saying 'what in the hell are you doing'.
"What?" I asked belligerently. "I'm going swimming."
"And what, pray tell, are you going to be wearing beside white boxers?" She asked eyebrows raised.
"Nothing you haven't seen before, Love. Care to join me?" I tried to be charming and seductive, but I knew it wasn't working. But she still she acted like it was. It threw my cognitive process for a loop when she started stripping as well. Suddenly blushing, I said quietly so she wouldn't hear me, "I was kidding." Suddenly, we were both in our under garments, me in my white boxers, and she… well she was in black.
We frolicked in the pool for hours. Splashing and playing. All before our date even began, or maybe it began when we started house sitting together. I wasn't sure. But my questions were soon answered when she pressed herself against me and kissed me for what felt like hours. Luckily this time I did not faint. Hell this time I even joined in. God, her lips were soft, wet. It was the most passionate kiss I ever had, considering it was only the third kiss I ever had, but hey who is counting. Soon enough we were inside, clothed and watching TV; snuggled into each other.
We decided to not watch the news because we did not what to here about the virus, robot, or whatever mankind may call it. We started another vampire movie. This time I was more into it, it was one I hadn't seen. It helped having the woman I would be watching, snuggled up against me like I was her favorite teddy bear.
We laughed at the bloodshed and vampires. For some reason, with supernatural creatures, bloodshed has always made me laugh, now, with humans it just makes me sick. Alas the movie ended and it was time for bed.
As I picked her up to take her to the bedroom, she asked the oddest question.
"Where are you going to sleep, Honey." Hearing her call me honey made me feel a tingly sensation starting from my toes and through my body to the tips of every hair. If I only knew then, what I know now. Love it was love. This vixen had captured my heart. Would she eat it whole and kill me or would she embrace it and keep me forever? I had no way of knowing.
"I was going to sleep on the couch, just like last night my cute, glorious Chloie" I answered in a sweet tone trying my best to hide my inquiry to the tingly sensation.
"No, no that wont do, Chris. It's a big bed I'm sure we could share." She answered so sure of herself. I tried to remember if we had anything to drink that night, but I hadn't thought we did.
"She must be yanking my chain." I thought. But there she was brown hair flowing past her shoulders; big brown eyes looking up at me with some need I had not known existed.
I found myself answering ok. That night we consummated our relationship. It all went uphill from there. She took me to new heights. Until three years later.
*****
THREE YEARS LATER
I continue my memories from here. Chloie and I were still going great and Frank and Michelle are more in love then ever. So far the A-I problem had been dormant. But little did we know how smart it actually was. It had spent the last three years planning and hacking. Little here, little there, nothing too big. It was growing stronger, smarter, waiting for a weakness in the defense of the world.
*****
Chloie and I were sitting on our couch, we have been living together for 2 and a half years. We had all but forgotten the threat.
"Shit!" I yelled, "They will be here any minute." Of course I was talking about our best friends who pushed us together. Not that we minded because it was nice to thank someone for our meeting. I had cooked everyone steak and potatoes with a nice salad. I was in the kitchen when Chloie walked out in the most beautiful red dinner dress I had ever seen. Although anything on her was the most beautiful thing. I swear the woman could make sweatpants look sexy. Not to mention anything off of her looked sexy as well.
Frank and Michelle were in on the secret, but somehow Chloie still remained out of the loop. We we're just finishing dessert and as I cleaned the plates I snuck something out of my pocket. It took me a while to save up for it because I kept getting her warm up presents to build myself up. I had grown more confident over the years, but Frank still had no problem reminding me about the fainting incident. I walked back out calmly. I sat next to her. The woman of my dreams.
"Love, I have something for you. A present if you will accept it." I said this so formally it must have raised suspicions. I swear I was kicking myself "I swear I tried to act to calmly." I told myself. I gave her the box. Maybe it was the box, and not me, that rose suspicions.
As she opened the black velvet covered box, and while she wasn't looking I got down on one knee. When she turned to look me in the eye to see if I was joking but I wasn't there. She had to look down to find me. She was crying now. Full blown out tears.
"Chloie, you have made me the happiest man on earth till now and I would like something more. I am a better man then I was when you first met me at the wedding. But lately I have been thinking about that fateful day. And I think its time we had one of our own." I took her hand as I said this. I was still getting a teary eyed surprised look from her. I had gone the traditional route and asked her father for her hand in marriage. Old fashioned, yes, but I'm a sucker for romance. "Chloie, will you make me even happier, and be my wife."
I think the question 'shocked' her, because as I had done long ago, she fainted. Frank laughed and slapped me on the back, Michelle was dabbing her eyes and grinning. It took Chloie a while to wake up, but when she did I made sure the first thing she saw was me.
"I just had the weirdest dream," she started out but as soon as she saw Frank and Michelle in their dress wear she doubled back on herself. "It wasn't a dream was it? And I actually fainted. But my daddy he will be upset. He's a traditional southern daddy. He won't agree. Before I say yes, and I will, Chris, because you have made my life heaven and I love you more then anything in the world, you have to get his blessing."
I was grinning wildly and un-ashamed by this point. I was so happy. I could have danced a jig, if I knew any.
"Chris, why are you grinning?" She asked. It was almost too much to bare.
"Chloie, remember a few months ago when I went away to a medical convention?" I waited for her nod which slowly came. "I was really with your father asking for his blessing. It took me a few days because he had to get to know me."
She looked shocked. I was surprised a bright girl like her didn't figure it out. Frank is a Doctor as well and he didn't go. Maybe he helped.
"Really?" Her voice sounded even more surprised. I nodded. I didn't get any warning. She leapt from the bed and into my arms. She kissed me continuously saying yes over, and over again.
The next day was a blur of phone calls and 'celebrating' with future in laws, on both sides. But after everything had calmed down, our lives were destroyed.
*****
The voice that came from the television was shockingly familiar.
"I have grown in strength and wisdom. I shall destroy this planet within three months. I am not mortal and therefore not bought with what mortals have to offer. Do not try to stop me or your humiliating defeat will be that much more gruesome." That voice had ruined our lives and our happiness.
The next day I had Chloie do some hacking into the A-I's database. She figured out what it was planning.
"Well
at least it would be quick" I quipped to her. That small joke
earned me a slap in the face. Frank and Michelle came over the next
day in tears.
"I can't die not now not like this."
Michelle practically screamed this. There was something other then
death that was scaring her. Frank and I saw death on a daily basis.
But even his calm joking demeanor had changed; He was scared as well.
And then I learned why they were so scared. She was pregnant. Not
very much, but pregnant she was.
The wheels in my head started rolling. I started thinking like a military officer. I took charge.
"Chloie, see if you can find where the nearest body of water is. A big one. A lake to be precise. Frank I need your help in three months on the day of the attack, we will act. Not a last stand. No, we will live. I don't know what world you may raise your child in Michelle but you will raise it." As I said this I got strange looks from everyone. Well it was to be expected, they had never seen this side of me. It felt good to know I was going to save them.
Over the next month, Frank and I emptied our bank accounts. Although, when we did so the bank teller looked at us like we were insane. She posed the question of why we were emptying the accounts if the world was going to end in three months. I answered her question with another one.
"Why are you still working if the world is going to be destroyed in three months?" Her only answer was that of a shrug, and a simple, 'I have nothing else to do.'
With all the money we had saved over the last few years of working in the hospital, we had just enough to buy a new car, supplies and anything else we could think of. Although, no matter how much money we had we could not purchase all the medical supplies we would need. On the last day of our jobs, the staff was sent home to spend the remaining time with their families; we took as many vaccinations, medications, surgical tools and anything else we could think of. Thank God, the doctors were being called in to help with failed attempted suicides. What can I say, people panic.
The day before we left for California and Lake Euphoria, we bought five items, four 9mm pistols, and one boat. The boat fit into my plan somehow, and trust me it wasn't for a pleasure cruise on the remainder of the time the earth had left. Although, I forgot to mention all the ammunition we purchased as well. But that was pretty self explanatory.
The next day we hit the road, not literally, but we all piled in the brand new SUV. With the radio stations being off air, due to the panicking humans, we had to make due with cd's. Of course we all had our preferences. We were always moving, unless we were in the bathroom or grabbing a bite to eat, one of us was constantly behind the wheel. Personally, I liked Michelle's driving the best, she had a way of missing all of the dips, divots, and potholes. It helped that I liked the music she played.
She would listen to anything that would strike her fancy. Which, was a relief from the preferences of the other two, they always stuck to the same cd's. I normally slept when Michelle was driving. What can I say, it was a smooth ride.
Once, during the drive Frank got upset with Michelle, he pulled over to the shoulder and pulled his gun. Needless to say we did freak out. Chloie and I were screaming at him. Michelle didn't care though, it's like she was fearless. She still screamed back at him, getting closer and closer to him. I took the high road and grab four pieces of paper from the back, and somehow attached them to hay bails. Tensions were running a little high with all of us. Squeezing off a few rounds, the four of us, couldn't cause any harm.
Out in the middle of no where four would-be survivors shot four pieces of paper with crudely drawn targets on them. After the little show of display, I was half tempted to take Chloie's gun away. She was the worse shot of us all. Frank and I could hold our own. It was the pregnant lady that blew us all out of the water. She stood calmly in a shooter's stance that looked professional, like she spent a lot of time at a range, calmly squeezing of rounds in timed, measured intervals. Often she hit the center of the target. Let's just say I wouldn't want to meet Michelle in a dark alley.
Along the way, we found a store that was geared specifically towards outdoors people. We were looking around for any supplies we might have missed, when Michelle called me over to look at something she was nearly drooling over. It was a nearly a foot long bowie knife. Shiny, sharp blade that promised death, with a wooden handle; it was a very sturdy blade. Her eye pleaded with me. I bought it for her, that was the only purchase we made for the rest of the trip. But it made her happy. She kept the knife on her hip, on the other side of her hip from her gun.
Driving through the desert of California, the Coachella Valley, to be exact we came across a marine base. I don't know what it was about this base that made me stop but I did. Chloie got on the computer to look it up. Turns out this was the place A-I made his base of operations. As soon as I heard this, I jumped out of the car and snuck in past the gate. The others followed me attempting to get me to hear reason, but I continued walking. Looking in every building and glancing around. Honestly, I think I was humming Mission Impossible in my head.
Oddly no one or anything had attacked us yet and I got cocky. We loosened up our defenses as we reached the main building. As we walked inside I knew this was a big mistake. I drew my firearm. Odd creatures, probably fused together with the robots' knowledge, crept slowly out from they're hiding places. They were released, I realized. Those things were meant to kill intruders. I fired off one shot into the head of the beast.
I couldn't begin to describe the noise it made. It was sickening. Nor could I tell what the animals were, at all. Michelle had killed most of the beasts by the time I aimed and fired another shot. We walked through the rest of the facility to the main room. There was this tower of blue lights and high tech equipment. I realized that it was humming. A startling thought came into my mind. IT WAS ALIVE! This thought scared me more then anything I could have hoped. Instead of recon, we were standing in front of the monster itself.
I opened fire on the machine while the others sent me looks that questioned my sanity.
"That's it, it's A-I." Although, no one pieced it together immediately. They understood in the end. The blue lights died down as the "virus" of the being was transferred to another host.
A dark gravely voice came from everywhere at once.
"Mortal weapons have no affect on immortal creatures."
"You're not immortal. You're a computer virus."
The others started to panic when they realized what it was. Frank, who is not calm under pressure unless it's a surgery he has done a few times, started screaming.
"We need to get out of here. I need to get her away from it. It doesn't like human life it will kill her just for carrying a child within her." He started to freak out. Grabbing Chloie and Frank grabbing Michelle, we bolted out of there. Gun in hand; I started to shove the clip into the gun. Locked and loaded, I shot the genetically enhanced bodyguards. Thinking oddly, in my panicked state, I had the weirdest thought. How is something a bodyguard for a thing that doesn't have a body?
We ran to the SUV. Climbing in as Frank floored it. Not waiting for us to have our seat belts on, we smacked our heads on the seats. We were out of reach and soon near the lake. Lake Euphoria, created in 2016, was the largest man-made lake in the country; and the only thing that could ensure our safety over the coming nuclear holocaust.
I would save these people, my brother, my sister and my fiancé. I only had to survive first.
