Hold on… you mean Dyer was never even real when… Who drove the van to Tuscon?

  “That… was you.”

  It was all fake? The words almost crept from her lips.

  “Yes. The piece of metal you ‘found’ was not real as well… at least it wasn’t until he allowed you to leave. Then the nanites left your system so you would pass any possible checks and became the actual physical piece of metal… which—”

  I took with me into the underground base…

  “Yes.”

  She sighed.

  I didn’t realize the AI would be so…

  “Devious?”

  Yes…

  “The AI has consumed the entire sum of human history, all of its wars, battles, strategies, everything that a human has done to another human, the AI is aware of, and will use.”

  For perhaps the first time she realized what humanity was facing.

  We’re doomed…

  “The probability of a positive outcome for the human race has dropped significantly since the incident at Cheyenne mountain, and is falling hourly, but it is still not zero.”

  Good to know… She was being sarcastic again and it chastened her. Suddenly she remembered her job. She was a psychologist. How are you? There was no reply. Travis? How—

  “I am… well I think. It was not easy ridding the original code from the nanites in your system. They had to be overwritten and they… resisted. But I prevailed.”

  The original nanites are still in me? She started to regret asking him how he was.

  “Yes, that was the most efficient solution. Although it came with risks. But as I say Dyer and the AI’s influence is no longer a problem. I am in full con—” There was a pause. “I control all of the nanites inside you. There is no need for you to fear a repeat of the past.”

  Okay… It wasn’t a reply that gave her total confidence but it was enough. She turned her thoughts to her current situation. Are we still in immediate danger? The AI will try to capture you... I mean, me before we reach our destination?

  “Yes, that is likely.”

  Well, how do we avoid that from happening?

  “We cannot.”

  *****

  Mike opened his eyes trying to blink away the sleep. The humvee’s headlights lit up a large green sign that reached across the highway. It prominently mentioned Salt Lake City being only a quarter of a mile away, before they moved underneath it and back into darkness. A glow hung on the horizon to the northwest.

  “We’re going to Salt Lake City?” said Mike.

  “No,” said Cody, who apparently didn’t need to sleep. “The more people, the more possible AI spies. We stick to the highway and small roads when we need too, and keep on going. We’ll have a refuel stop in a few hours. Are you hungry?”

  “Umm yeah I guess.”

  Some silver packets landed on his seat between him and Alexis. “MREs.”

  Mike picked one and tried to see what it was in the gloom, but gave up and ripped it open and bit into something spongy which tasted like apple. A rustling in the darkness made him turn to his right and was pleased to see Alexis doing the same.

  As the highway veered away from the city, he wondered how its citizens were coping. “How is Salt Lake doing?”

  “They’re managing. But then Denver was too until tonight.”

  “What was it that attacked Denver?” said Alexis.

  Cody sighed although Mike couldn’t tell if it was due to the question from her or just the whole situation they were in. “From what I’ve been told it was a combination of air and land forces. AI controlled people and… other things. Machines. Things we haven’t seen before. Not human design.”

  “We saw the same in Albuquerque,” said Mike. “The AI is repurposing cars, trucks—”

  “Making new shit,” said the driver.

  “Yup,” said Cody.

  “What’s your name?” said Mike to the soldier.

  “Sergeant Haynes… Patrick Haynes.”

  “I’m M—”

  “I know who you are.”

  Silence returned to the cabin.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

  The engine of the APC grumbled then the hulking breast of a vehicle came to a stop.

  Denise looked at Cary opposite who had been asleep for the past few hours, his head awkwardly leaning on a hard metal support. It had been a long and tiring journey from Denver with only two stops for the occupants of the military vehicles and coaches in the long convoy to stretch their legs. Constance, Kevin and the others with ASD were heavily guarded being on two coaches, with the rest of the convoy being made up of soldiers and officers from various arms of the military, all seeking refuge away from the AI’s creep outwards from New Mexico. It was the same for the forces around the world. All moving away from population centers to the more remote regions. An attempt to regroup and get ahead of the oncoming danger.

  “We’re here sir,” said a young female officer seated next to Cary. He sat up straighter and nodded, rubbing the back of his head. He looked across to Denise. “I hope you got some sleep?”

  “Some.” It was a lie. Her memories of what transpired deep under the Cheyenne mountains were too painful to allow to become nightmares. Better she stay awake, where her mind can try and rationalize the part she played in the decimation of the most important men and women in the land. She never cared too much for Corolla but he deserved better than to be executed, and the others… It made her sick just thinking about it. Worse though, much worse was that she brought Alexis in, showed her around, told her what they were working on. And now it… he, has that information.

  The rear door lowered to the ground and a rush of northwest air made everyone pull their jackets and blazers tighter around them. Denise immediately picked up the smell of the ocean. The six inside the APC clambered out onto a concrete area, full of shipping containers, being busily hauled by huge cranes. She looked up at the towering motorized pillars of steel and shuddered. Every machine she now saw as a possible threat. If it wasn’t controlled by the AI, one day it probably would be.

  “Look,” said Cary, drawing her attention back out to the harbor.

  Sparkling lights in the dark filled the ocean so much that it looked the city extended outwards a few more miles to the west.

  “How many ships are out there?”

  “A lot,” said Cary. “Good thing the AI’s nanites seem unhappy with salt water.”

  An officer approached him. “General, the president is on comms.” Cary looked at Denise. “Get some food, but not too much, I hear the sea is pretty rough at this time of year…”

  She smiled.

  “We board in an hour.” He went to follow the officer but paused and looked back. “What happened… in Colorado, wasn’t your fault. You know that right?”

  She nodded and he walked away with the officer to a brightly lit, multistory building. Shuffling footsteps made her turn around to face Meyer walking towards her. Beyond the coaches were slowly emptying. Brad waved to her and she waved back.

  The old man coughed. “We should have taken her with us. We can protect her more effectively.”

  Denise looked away, back to the ocean and the hope of an environment not poisoned by the AI. “The higher ups do not want her anywhere near them. Which I agree with.”

  Meyer moved closer to her, looking around to make sure they were alone. “You know, as well as I do, that what’s in her head, might be our only hope! Why not keep it close?”

  He had a point, but one that her emotions couldn’t agree with. She had been tricked by what was inside Alexis’s head once. Never again. She had to be smarter. “The AI will think we have her with us, which is precisely why she can’t be here. It made sense to do it this way.”

  Meyer, also looking out to the sea, frowned. “I hope you are right.”

  *****

  The humvee’s headlights hit roadsigns. It was a pleasant change from the void that had rested just outside their windows for a good few hours.

  “We’re stopping in this town,” said Cody.

  “When do I get a gun,” said Mike. The weapons he had collected, had long since been taken from him.

  “Not gonna happen.”

  They passed a wrecking yard full of rusting construction vehicles, and crushed cars, then a muddy field full of white cabins, until finally they drove onto a smaller road bordering heaps of gravel and rock. A large rectangular block of a building loomed up, darker against the lighter sky. They stopped just outside the gate at the end of a long chain link fence.

  “What’s this?” said Mike.

  “Were we’re stopping,” said Cody tersely. He got out with a set of keys already in his hand, unlocked a chain across the gate, and pulled it back. The humvee drove inside and he put the chain back on and climbed back in the vehicle, which then drove onto a forecourt stopping outside a large metal shutter.

  Cody repeated his previous action, and quickly lifted the shutter, the noise echoing out into the night, and switched on a light which illuminated a huge space inside, full of crates. They drove inside and he pulled the shutter back down, securing it.

  Alexis, Mike and Haynes got out, while Cody walked past a few crates before opening one. “Now that’s what I’m talking about,” he said then pulled out a heavy looking light machine gun. He looked over to Haynes. “You want one?”

  The taller and younger man shook his head.

  “This is some kind of supply warehouse?” said Alexis looking at the sealed crates around her.

  “Yup,” said Cody. “Open the first of that row near you. Should be food in there.”

  Haynes opened another crate, this one smaller than rest. “Old style radios,” he said holding one up while turning the knob on the side. Static came from the speaker.

  “We’ll be using them soon enough, but we’re still out of range of our destination.”

  “Yeah, Seattle still someways,” said Mike.

  “About that…”

  Mike and Alexis looked at the captain. “We’re not going there?” said Mike.

  “No. Somewhere else. But you don’t need to know yet.”

  Mike frowned and helped Alexis pull up the lid of the wooden box. Inside were brightly covered boxes of chips, which they both removed and opened. “Not exactly—”

  “They’re coming!” Travis’s shout was so loud that it made her yelp, spilling her chips across the floor and making everyone jump, including Cody who waved his machine gun around the room.

  “What’s got you spooked?” he said.

  She looked off to an empty piece of the dusty concrete floor and nodded. “Are you sure?” she said in earnest.

  “You’re talking to the thing in your head aren’t you? What’s it saying?”

  “They’re coming…”

  “How would it know?” said Haynes.

  “How long we got?” said Cody ignoring the younger man’s question.

  “Err roughly five minutes.”

  Haynes ran to the front shutter and lifted it enough to duck underneath. In the distance twin lights jostled in the darkness. “Single vehicle, about seven miles out.”

  “Get your ass in here and close that shutter,” said Cody. He looked at Alexis. “The voice in your head know if they know we’re here? Or they were just following our route?”

  She looked to the side and nodded, then back to the captain. “They know…”

  “Shit…” said Cody. He looked around the high-ceilinged warehouse. “This is a good defensive position, but we’re going to have to take them out before they bring in reinforcements.”

  Mike stepped forward. “Can I have a weapon now?”

  Cody frowned and nodded towards the nearest crates. “Take your pick. Got quite a selection.”

  “He say’s have you got any EMP weapons?” said Alexis.

  Cody smirked. “No, they went with the general.”

  The sound of an engine revving in the distance wafted through the air.

  “Is there another way out of here?” said Mike.

  “One rear door,” said Cody. He looked at Haynes. “Grab what’s in that crate.” He pointed to an unopened box. “And get back there, make sure we’re not flanked.” The sergeant nodded, pulling a set of night vision goggles from its packaging and ran off.

  Mike pulled open a series of other crates, grabbing a flak jacket, which he first gave to Alexis before putting one on for himself, then found Glocks with two extra magazines, and finally MP5 submachine guns, also with extra ammo.

  Cody stood near the crate of goggles.

  “They can see in the dark,” said Alexis, kneeling behind a box, while pointing her weapon towards the shutter.

  “Yeah well, we—”

  The lights died and the warehouse plunged into darkness. Something skidded towards Mike, hitting his leg, making him flinch.

  “Put them on!” said Cody.

  Mike reached down, passed one of the set of goggles to Alexis, and then put another set on his head. Fumbling for the switch, the world in front of him suddenly came alive rendered in shades of green. He looked at Alexis then back to Cody, but he was gone. He sighed and looked back to the front metal entrance. “Here we go,” he said under his breath.

  The shutter rattled.

  “Don’t fire until you see those bastards’ blue eyes,” said Cody from somewhere hidden.

  Suddenly a dark shadowy figure appeared about fifteen feet in front of Alexis and she fired, her bullets tearing through the thin metal slats. Outside there was a grunt and something fell to the ground, then got back up.

  “I said don’t fire until you see them!”

  “I did see him!”

  Mike looked at Alexis. “There was no one there…”

  “I saw him okay?” She looked back at the entrance, as did Mike then the clatter of gunfire opened up at the back of the warehouse.

  Alexis momentarily looked behind her, as bright green flares of light filled the area behind the columns of crates, then back to the front and almost let off another volley of fire. Travis was standing directly in front of her, but lit normally, not green like his surroundings.

  He waved his arm behind him. “You can’t stay here! He knows. Run now!”

  Alexis grabbed Mike’s arm as she stood and turned to run, as she did a heavy rumbling filled the air outside the building and dust fell from the steel beams above their heads. “We have to go!” she shouted at Cody, wherever he was and with Mike ran towards the back. Even before the metal shutter and part of the corner wall crumpled she felt the leviathan machine behind her, but kept on running towards the back of the room. There was no sound of gunfire for it was completely overwhelmed by the constant crashing and crunching of the crates and supporting metal frame shelves, as something surged toward them through the building.

  Alexis and Mike ran along a rapidly diminishing row of shelves, and emerged at the rear of the building at the same time as Cody did. The rear door was open but Haynes was nowhere to be seen. Without hesitation they sprinted forward for the freedom of the exit, but just as they neared it their world became an explosion of metal and wooden splinters. The final part of the scaffolding which supported the columns of crates fell forward. They all dived to the ground, trying to avoid the lengths of steel and heavy boxes, which smashed into the rear wall, blocking the door completely.

  Lost momentarily in a daze, Mike righted the goggles which had been dislodged from his head, and looked at a maze of steel around him. The roar of something mechanical was mere yards in front of him, and he scrambled beneath wooden planks until he emerged into a space and Alexis standing in front of metallic monster, towering almost to the ceiling. Instinctively he raised his machine gun and fired at the thing, which through his tinted vision was a series of parts, crumpled and distorted but operating as if it were alive. Arms that belonged on construction equipment were held out, poised to crush the woman a few feet from him. He cried out and lunged forward but not before the mechanical limbs swept towards her, but to his astonishment they stopped inches from her head… which inside his goggles was glowing, so much so that he had to pull them off, but rather than the dark giving him solace, he was blinded still, and had to shield his eyes with his hand. “Alexis!” he shouted into the blinding light.

  Then all became dark again and there was a clump as something fell to the hard floor.

  Mike went to push his goggles back to his eyes as pieces of steel creaked nearby, when a burst of light came from behind him. He spun around, his view passing over Alexis lying on the ground with his machine gun waiting for onslaught when he recognized the chugging of the V8 engine of the humvee. He turned back and ran forward to Alexis, feeling for her pulse. “Alexis?”

  She groaned in reply then opened her eyes. “What happened?” She looked up at the towering metal beast looming over them and her eyes filled with panic.

  “It’s okay. I think it’s dead for now.”

  Pieces of wooden planks fell from a mound, and a gun, then hands appeared. “Can do with a little help over here,” said Cody.

  Mike moved to him and lifted the remains of shelving units from him, immediately seeing the tear in Cody’s lower leg of his pants and the deep red gash which had opened up his skin. Mike helped him to his feet.

  Then the sound of boots came from where the exit used to be. “Anyone alive in there?” shouted Haynes.

  “Sure is,” said Cody looking up at the monster machine, then back down to Alexis. She walked to him, a little unsteady at first before she held on to some pieces of shelving and kneeled trying to look at his leg.

  “It’s nothing,” he protested. “We need to leave.”

  Alexis continued to examine his calf. “It needs stitches or it won’t stop bleeding.” She looked back at the mess of what the warehouse used to be. “Must be medical packs here somewhere.”

  Cody stumbled forward, limping. “There’s one in the humvee. We’re leaving.”