Chapter Two: Rachel Meets my Family

As Rachel and I ran down the street under the cover of night, I couldn't help thinking of my family. I would get back to them. I had to get back to them. That would come later. Right now, I needed to orient us and was looking for anything- a newspaper, map, or a familiar landmark. I looked at Rachel.

"Does anything look familiar?" I asked her as we walked along the sidewalk in an isolated part of the city we were in.

Rachel angrily shook her head. "No and that's what aggravates me!" She said as she looked at me with her brows furrowed in annoyance.

I looked around the city. It was mostly dark, but there were a few shops and clubs still open. I breathed a sigh of relief as I saw I could read the shop names. Well, we are in a city dominated by an English-speaking population, I thought as Rachel suddenly smiled and surged forward toward a small shop.

"What?" I asked as I raised an eyebrow at her actions.

Rachel looked around the window of the shop and noticed the analog clock on the wall. "2255…" she mumbled as I translated, 10:55 PM.

Noticing the magazine rack, I looked and saw that the newest issue on display was from March of 2019. Eight years?! I thought in shock.

Rachel walked up behind me and smiled as she wrapped her arms around my neck. "We'll find out where we are, and go back home." Rachel promised before she kissed my cheek.

I froze at her unsolicited show of affection. "What was that for?" I asked as I tried to focus on her and ignore the fact that my voice sounded so feminine and alien compared to the baritone I had become accustomed to.

"You seemed anxious." Rachel told me soothingly. "I was trying to calm you down."

I smiled at her and felt something I'd never felt before as she kissed me on the cheek, and I looked into her eyes in the light of a distant street lamp: freedom. For the first time in my life, I could say I was truly free. My parents probably thought I was dead. (Even if they thought so, I doubt it would affect the workaholics too much.) I had no grounding and could be anywhere in the world. The thought should have been terrifying, but I was absolutely thrilled. Then, a question slammed into my mind. Do I really want to go back to the chains of the dysfunctional family I had? The answer of course was a resounding no. A gentle hand squeezing my arm brought me out of my musings. When I looked up, I wasn't prepared for the beauty in Rachel's face.

"You may hate your family for what they did to you, Lucy," Rachel spoke softly. "It's been eight years, your body has been completely overhauled, and you have me."

There was no way in hell I could've turned down her pleading eyes. Damn it! I'm whipped already! I thought as a small grin passed my lips. "Fine…" I said with a shake of my head. "We'll find my family." I told her as a part of me commented, She should have those eyes registered as lethal weapons.

Returning myself to the task, I looked around. I wonder where we are? I thought as I renewed the search for a map or landmark. Walking past a cell phone shop, I looked at Rachel for a moment. When she gave an urgent nod, I walked up to the door of the store and tried the knob. Imagine my shock when I turned the knob. It gave some resistance, but relented with an ear-splitting shriek as the locking mechanism yielded to me.

Once we were inside, Rachel picked up a phone plugged into a charging station and quickly found the phone's GPS. After a few moments, Rachel nodded at something on the screen and looked at me.

"So, where are we?" I asked her calmly.

The brunette looked up from the device, her face drained of color. "We're in Oklahoma."

"Say again?" I asked with a disbelieving expression on my face.

"You heard me." Rachel said before she walked over to me and showed me the phone.

I nodded. An entire simulated environment underground isn't that weird. I thought with a shrug. After all, they did it in the Resident Evil Franchise. "The million dollar question is: How do we get topside?" I mumbled as we continued walking.

Silence ruled for most of the walk around the darkened street. As I was about to ask Rachel to find a place to camp for the night, I heard the rant whine of an electric motor and smiled. Even with all the insulation, it wasn't hard to identify as an elevator motor. I grinned at the thought and motioned for Rachel to stay close and silent. All I got was a nod, but there was a fire in her eyes that suggested I was about to get a show of sorts.

Rachel charged, rushing toward the unsuspecting guards in a flash. Her fists a blur, the woman made my mouth go dry as I watched her take down the men with relative ease. When I was able to come back from my shock-induced stupor, a blush added deep red to my cheeks. I walked over to her. It took me a moment to realize what exactly had happened in that span of time because my brain was currently trying its best to reboot.

"Well, someone liked what she saw." Rachel teased.

"W-what?"

It was then my brain came back online. I could feel a strange sensation between my legs. It took only a moment for the events to click into place. Once they did, my eyes widened in shock as my brain finally started to get traction. My entire body radiated heat from embarrassment as looked away from Rachel on embarrassment. What did the bitch do? She laughed at me!

I glared at her. "You think me being embarrassed by this new body is funny?"

She smiled and looked at me. "Come on, Babe."

Babe? My mind questioned, briefly getting sidetracked.

"You have to admit," she told me gently. "Your reaction to me fighting was pretty comical."

I sighed. "You're right." I said as we got in the elevator and started up to Rachel Meets my Familyground level. "It was kinda funny, but could you please let me get used to this first?"

She nodded and grinned at me. "We're quite the pair."

I looked at her. "What do you mean?"

Rachel shook her head and looked ahead as we seemed to come out of the elevator in an office building. Looking around, I saw there was almost no one in the building. I sighed at the welcome respite and ran for the door with Rachel in tow. Once I fixed the door open like I did with the cell phone shop, Rachel and I ran out of the building and started with our destination in the east.

After a few days of a combination of walking and hitchhiking, we made it within walking distance of the compound. Compound was not a far exaggerated term for the place I spent most of my life because it was set up much like one. The main house was a large two-story log cabin while trailers were strewn about the thirty acres. The log cabin itself was a hodgepodge of two conflicting styles. The house had the ascetic of a mountain cabin, but at the same time, the inside was modern. The design never made sense to me, but it was no longer my problem to gripe about the very poorly insulated home.

As we walked up the quarter mile drive, I noticed absolutely everyone seemed to be gathered outside in between the pool and back porch at a recently constructed pavilion. I groaned and squeezed Rachel's hand in fear. She looked at me and smiled.

"They can't be that bad." Rachel said gently as she tried to soothe my fears.

I barked a short laugh. "You didn't live with them for eighteen years."

Just as I was about to meet my family again after eight years of absence, I heard something I hoped to never hear. A large ICBM coming in at just under 500 miles an hour.

They tracked us! I thought in anger as I turned to the family, obviously oblivious to the incoming death from above. I shook my head. How the hell am I going to stop…? My mind froze as I saw Rachel. I must be insane. I thought before I rushed over to her and kissed her deeply. Passion proved to have bizarre effects on the woman. There was a bright royal blue flash of light that danced around her. A moment later, I held a large plasma cannon that reminded me of a Fuel Rod Gun from Halo: CE. I grinned, looked Rachel's Arm over for a moment, thought Momma like…, and shouldered my girlfriend-turned-weapon with ease. They may hate me, I thought as I glared at the target of my rage: a rapidly growing point that loomed overhead. …but they shouldn't die for their ignorance. I thought as my face tensed in anticipation.

"Sayonara, sucker!" I growled as I fired.

The rocket exploded when it came in contact with the metallic blue orb contacted its target. The thunderously loud BOOM! made all the dogs erupt in fits of barking. As pieces of the missile rained down behind me, Rachel returned to her human form with a flash of blue light. Everyone just stared at me in stunned silence as flaming wreckage continued to come down around me.

"Um…hi?" I managed to say as I continued to hold Rachel in my arms like a porcelain doll until she began to stir. "We need to talk."

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