Chapter 6
The next morning, Kara abruptly awoke. She was certain that she heard a loud pounding noise.
"Kara, Kara."
It appeared Alice was calling out to here from the corner of her bed in a pleading voice. She reached for Kara's right hand attempting to pull her out of bed.
"Come on. Let's go. We got to get out of here."
Kara got up following Alice downstairs.
"What's going on?"
As she headed downstairs it became clear. The sound of something slamming against the door along with the sound of gunfire became obvious.
Alice led Kara to an area on the wood floor in her living room and opened it.
"Where's Luther?" she stammered.
"He's outside."
"What?!"
"Kara, we got to go. Luther told me to get you. We're supposed to leave before those men catch us."
"The h-ll with that."
She climbed down. It appeared there was a basement below her house that she had stocked full of books. She could barely see the ones below the stairs.
"Careful, Alice."
Alice had stumbled across the shelves against the backwall causing the books to knock over.
Kara knelt down next to her.
"Are you alright?'
"I'm fine. I just thought I saw a light switch over here."
"Really? It's kinda hard to see down here with the lights out."
Still it didn't take long for Alice to find the switch.
The light revealed that the bookcase that Alice had run into was hiding a strangely grooved wall.
Kara picked up the books and placed them back on the shelf.
Strange how most of the books down here looked old and covered in dust in cobwebs. Even stranger was the book on the first shelf that looked like a new purchase.
She reached for the book intrigued when the bookshelf suddenly began to move outward revealing a room behind it.
Inside the room was alit by the light in the basement. It contained a couch, an unlit lantern and a desk.
"Hide in here for now. I need to do something."
"But Kara."
Kara pushed the bookshelf door back in place.
"Keep quiet. I'll be back. Don't make a sound no matter what."
With that she closed the hidden passage putting the new book back in place before heading upstairs.
Once she was back above the basement she closed the faux floor hearing no noise upon heading back up.
She did see a couple of shadows from some men outside.
'What's going on.'
Kara carefully opened the backdoor a crack to take a peek outside.
No one was in the back. She stepped outside.
Suddenly someone grabbed from behind holding her in a choke hold.
Kara felt her heart beating quickly, energy bursting through her body.
She looked down and saw the guy's shoes on both sides of her feet.
Kara stomped on his right foot causing him to yelp.
She elbowed him back, loosening his grip on her. She turned and kicked him.
He grunted hitting his head against the wall. The knockback providing time to grab the object he carried on him.
It appeared to be a baton. She hit him in the head before he collapsed to the ground.
Purusing the body, she found he also had a gun in the holster on the other side of his hip.
Just then she heard rustling coming from the front and the sound of footsteps coming in her direction. She dropped the baton and held out her gun deciding to round the left corner cautiously in case they intended to box her in on both sides.
Kara peered around the corner and saw one person coming from that direction.
She quickly stepped out firing at the guy at close range. He collapsed to the ground before she ran up to the front of the house.
Two men were standing surprised by her presence. Luther was sitting on the steps, his back leaning against the front door.
His shoulder was a bloodied mess.
Her presence however made him straighten.
"Kara, what are you doing here?"
She shot at one of the guys as he lifted his gun to shoot her.
Luther kicked the other's guy's legs granting him enough time to grab the gun that had fallen from the other guy's hands.
Kara glared at him.
Luther gazed at her with wide eyes.
"Don't be an idiot. You think I'm really going to leave you here to die?"
He raised his gun and fired.
Kara heard a body collapse behind her.
She turned and saw a man had fallen behind her, a blue wound in his head from where the bullet had fired.
Kara snorted before regarding the man in front of her. She smiled.
"Good shot."
She ran to him and helped him to his feet.
"Where's Alice?" he stammered.
She supported his right arm on her left shoulder.
"Don't worry. She's alright."
"We gotta get out of here as soon as possible."
"I know. Do you know where I put my flashlight?"
"In the kitchen."
Kara helped Luther to the kitchen.
"Which cupboard?"
Luther gestured to the drawer above the cupboard next to the stove.
"That one."
Kara opened it finding a small flashlight.
"That'll do."
She led Luther to the faux floor removing the panel.
"Oh she's hiding in the secret passage?" Luther asked.
Kara raised her right brow.
"You know about this place?"
"Of course who do you think built it? You were always paranoid about government surveillance and wanted me to build a stronghold in case they sent their own set of robots after you."
She snorted.
"Not so paranoid now, am I?"
Luther chuckled.
"How'd you find this place anyway? Did your memories return?"
"No, Alice found it."
"I have to admit that girl's very perceptive."
"Wait here."
"Not much I can do otherwise."
Kara headed downstairs. Turning on the flashlight she walked until she reached the far wall.
Spotting the lightswitch, she turned it on before turning off her flashlight.
She scoured the bookshelf looking for the obscure book before pulling it out.
The door opened like before revealing Alice sitting on the bed, huddled in a corner and her legs brought up to her chest.
She was frowning for a moment before it melted into a relieved smile.
"Kara, you're ok."
Alice lunged forward to embrace Kara.
Kara chuckled.
"Of course I am. I told you I would be."
"So what now?" Alice asked.
"We leave."
"But where will we go?"
"I don't know but we can't stay here. I'm certain more men will be back if we stay here."
"Ok."
Alice followed Kara up the stairs.
"Luther?"
Luther cracked a pained smile.
"Hey Alice."
Alice looked on with a frown.
"Are you alright? You're bleeding."
"I'm fine."
Kara snorted.
"No, you're not. We gotta get you patched up or I'm not taking you anywhere."
Luther sighed.
"Alright. I think I remember you telling me some stuff that you learned from that good friend of yours."
"Good friend?"
"Yeah, you were friends with that male nurse. I think you said his name was Simon."
"What'd I learn?"
"I need to apply pressure to the wound. You need to make a tourniquet to stop the blood."
"Oh I see. Will a shirt work?"
"That should work."
Kara ran upstairs to get a shirt from her dresser before heading back.
"This good?"
"Yeah. I think now you gotta tear it in thin strips."
Alice handed her a pair of scissors.
Kara sighed before cutting through her shirt with ease.
"Now tie them together."
She tied the strips together making a long piece of material.
Luther attempted to remove his shirt slowly wincing as the shirt stuck to his bloodied wound.
Kara helped him pull the remainder of it off leaving nothing but his bloodied shoulder.
"Now wrap it tightly around the wound."
She wrapped the material around shoulder.
Luther winced.
"Is that too tight? If it's too painful I could loosen it."
"You get it any looser than it wouldn't do it's job. It's not supposed to be comfortable. It's supposed to stifle the blood flow."
"I'm gonna pack some things and then we should be ready to go."
"You got a couple of bags in the closet," Luther said.
"I can help if you like," Alice said.
"Sure, can you pack some clothes in a bag?" Kara asked.
Alice nodded before heading off.
'I sure hope she can find them.'
Kara gathered some of the blankets on her bed setting it in a giant backpack she had stuffed in her closet. She decided not to pack the more thicker ones to leave room for more storage.
When she was satisfied she headed downstairs with the bag slung around her back only to find Luther wasn't seated where she left him.
He returned with a bag of his own slung over one shoulder.
Alice came down with an old drawstring bag full of clothes.
"Here Alice, I'll hold that for you," Luther offered.
She smiled.
"That's alright. I can carry this."
"Are you sure?" he asked.
"Yeah, I'm positive."
"Alright."
With that the three headed out making their way to the bus.
"We probably should catch the bus three blocks from here in case they tail us," Luther suggested.
"Good idea."
Eventually the three arrived at the bus stop. Some time later the bus stopped and the three got on board paying the fare.
"So where are you three heading?"
"To Downtown Detroit."
It was strange driving among the streets of Detroit. Had it always looked so peaceful? Not too long ago, the city was filled to the brim with crime.
Most of the jobs of clearing out crime in the city were given to androids yet nobody seemed to oppose them or their control of the city. That's what it was wasn't it. Hardly anyone knew how to take on a job, and there was no incentive to take on a job that wasn't going to pay you money.
Money was obsolete when the government ensured you had your own methods of paying for it's services to the citizens.
That's why Kara never accepted androids in her home. Just another way it had people under it's thumb Luther supposed.
Once they made it to the city, the three got off the bus downtown. Eventually the three made it to a motel.
Inside was a brown skinned man behind the front counter.
"Can I help you?" he asked.
"How much is a room for the night?"
"It's free for the night. We don't charge people to stay here as long as you got a billing card."
Kara looked at Luther with a raised brow.
He took the bag off his shoulder and rummaged for a card in his bag before handing it to the man.
"Here you go."
"Excuse me for a moment."
The man took out an LED from his pocket placing it on the side of his head.
'Must be another android.'
"Thank you very much," he said before handing the card back to Luther. "Your room with be in room 132."
"Alright."
With that the three headed to their room.
Luther glanced around the room. A king sized bed stood against a wall on the corner of the room facing a wide screen television.
Heat traveled up Luther's face as he realized the situation that Kara put them in.
"Um Kara, mind explaining something to me?"
Kara glanced at him with a frown.
"What is it, Luther?"
"You told that android we would only be buying one room for the night. Why?"
"It's easier to keep track of everyone that way. Then if we run into an emergency, we can leave together without bringing it to anyone's attention."
Something in the way she said that made a chill creep up Luther's spine.
"Nothing's gonna happen Kara," Luther said.
"If you want to believe that, then that's fine but I'd rather be safe than sorry."
He sighed.
"Where did you intend for all of us to sleep anyway?"
"We could share the bed. All three of us."
Luther looked at Kara as if she was crazy.
"I can sleep on the edge of the bed. There's plenty of room to sleep there," Alice said.
"Are you sure?"
"Yeah."
Luther groaned.
"You don't sound too thrilled with the idea of sharing the same bed with me."
"Kara, you can't miss the implications that arise when people find a man and a woman sharing the same bed together especially one as attractive as you are."
"You're not doing the birds and the bees are you?" Alice asked.
Kara glanced at Luther in accusation. He was blushing a dark red.
"No, of course not," she said confidently.
Kara leaned forward whispering in Luther's ear.
"You're not going to hump me in my sleep are you?"
Luther frowned.
"O-of course not," he stammered.
"Then what's the problem?"
He groaned.
"If you'd rather sleep on the floor, that's always an option. I was just thinking about your shoulder."
Luther's heart warmed at her thoughtfulness.
He sighed.
"Alright, you win."
Kara chuckled. She removed the top layer of covers and crawled in on the right side while Luther laid on top of the covers on the left side.
Alice sat on the edge of the bed.
Kara reached out to the bedside table and picked up the remote, turning on the television.
It was cued to the news. The scrolling headline below read: 'Local Bombshell: Five RK-800s destroyed outside local resident's home.'
A woman news anchor was on the screen reciting the events of what happened.
"We just received news of this horrible slaughter, just thirty minutes ago. A young Detroit couple was spotted with a young girl that was kidnapped from 41 year old Todd Williams. Once confronted the couple opened fire killing all five androids on the scene."
It showed outside footage of a two story house.
"Hey Kara, isn't that your house?" Alice asked.
Kara glanced at the tv with horror.
"If you see any of these people give our android hotline a call."
On the screen was a photograph of Luther and Kara.
"Sh-t."
Suddenly the sound of a siren came from outside their door.
Kara turned off the tv.
A couple of red, white and blue lights glowed through the window next to the bed.
Luther opened the blinds on the window a thread and peeked outside.
"Looks like the police already arrived."
"Sh-t."
"Don't panic, Kara. We can get out of this. Just get ready."
Kara and Alice picked up their bags. Luther picked up his as well.
Opening the door a hair, Luther scouted both directions of their door.
The coast was clear.
He headed out and looked down off the alcove down to the parking lot below.
Two police cars were parked outside the entrance. A couple of men were heading up the stairs from the left.
'Sh-t.'
Luther looked to the right. There was a shadowy alcove that might obscure them for a while. They could hide there until the coast was clear.
He opened the door and gestured to Kara and Alice.
"Kara, Alice, come on."
The two followed Luther who was briskly running to the shadowy alcove just as the police started marching up to the same floor as their room.
Kara saw that Alice was edging awfully close to the lighted part of the hall and pulled her further in the darkened alcove.
The loud voices of the men outside the door were loud and clear even from where all three of them were standing.
"Open up, detroit police."
When all was quiet, one of the men kicked the door open and stepped inside along with the three other men.
"Now's our chance. Quickly we gotta get outta here."
Kara and Alice followed Luther down the stairs on the right side before quickly running through the back of the motel from an alcove that led to a back road to the rest of the city.
"How do you think they found us?" Kara asked.
"Probably that android at the front desk. We should have known better. Those things are programmed to inform the police of any criminal activity that happens under their noses."
"Even if it's a lie, apparently."
"We don't know that," Luther said. "Maybe Todd is looking for Alice."
"Dad wouldn't send androids to kill you."
Luther felt a chill creep up his spine.
"If he didn't send those androids, then who did?"