Project Ami Read Free

it. He looks at Ami one last time and sees her staring into the fire.
    ‘Today has been a good day,’ she says into the flames.
    He smiles before making himself comfortable and slowly falling to sleep.

Chapter 2
Barn Find
    It is early in the morning. The sun is shining through the trees, and Ryan hears a sound of someone walking around him. He stands up and looks around him, but Ami is nowhere to be seen. He jumps up, grabs his gun, and starts to walk around the camp in an effort to locate her. He calls her name but, after calling a few times, he hears a voice in the distance.
    ‘I’m here.’
    He walks towards the sound of her voice, and then calls again. Once again he hears, ‘I’m here.’ He is getting closer. He pushes away a few bushes and ends up on a big open field. In the field he sees a barn, with Ami standing right in front of it, looking up in wonder. He walks to Ami and asks what she is doing.
    Ami replies, ‘I was looking around and I found this house. Isn’t it just beautiful? Shall we go inside?’
    ‘You shouldn’t run off like that, Amu. This is a dangerous place! If you don’t look out, you could get wounded—or worse!’
    ‘I’m sorry,’ she says quietly. ‘I just did not want to wake you up. And I was curious. And kind of lonely and bored sitting there while you slept.’
    ‘It’s okay. Did you see anybody or any bots around?’
    ‘No, but I only just got here.’
    ‘Okay. I will have a look, but you stay behind me.’
    Ryan grabs his gun and slowly starts to walk towards the barn. It’s an old structure, and scratching noises come from inside— Rats or mice maybe? he wonders.
    Ryan takes the handle of one of the doors and throws open the door. As soon as he opens the door, a flock of doves fly out of the roof, an alert sounding from their mouths and up into the morning sky.
    Ami ducks and screams.
    ‘It’s okay!’ Ryan reassures her urgently. ‘They’re just birds.’
    Ami slowly stands up and takes Ryan’s arm. They start to walk into the barn. Ryan asks Ami to let go so that he can make sure everything is safe. He walks back to Ami when he is satisfied, and together they look around the barn, but all they can see are some saddles, tools and hay bales. There are holes in the back wall and the roof of the barn, and bright yellow sunlight filters through the gaps from the early-morning sun.
    Ami walks to the back wall and looks through one of the holes. With an excited voice she says, ‘Ryan, I can see another house through this hole!’
    Ryan walks to the wall and looks through the hole. A small, wooden cabin sits in the distance, a porch at the front. Clothes hang on the railings, and everything looks clean and well-maintained. He tells Ami he will have a look to see if there is something to be found there.
    ‘Can I come with you?’ she asks.
    ‘Okay, but stay behind me and stay low until I tell you it’s safe.’
    They walk out of the barn and around the back, heading in the direction of the cabin. When they are a few feet away, all of a sudden, they are shot at from one of the windows of the cabin. Ryan quickly grabs Ami and they dive behind some wooden logs. Ryan looks at Ami and asks if she is okay. But she has been hit in the arm.
    After a few seconds, however, Ryan watches in disbelief as the skin on Ami’s arm closes the gaping hole. In awe, he asks, ‘How did you do that?’
    ‘I have a self-healing function that can fix small injuries and errors so that I do not become incapacitated because of a small injury.’
    ‘So basically you’re immortal?’ Ryan laughs, incredulous.
    ‘Of course not,’ she smiles. ‘It only works for small injuries. If he had shot me a few more times it would have been a lot worse.’
    ‘Okay, just stay down,’ Ryan commands. ‘I’ll handle this.’
    Ryan grabs his gun and peeks out above the logs. He watches as a big man rushes outside.
    Ryan yells, ‘We don’t want any trouble!’ But the only reply they get is ‘Screw