I felt a slight pressure applied around my waist. First, I didn't pay attention to it, as my whole focus was on nearly dying girl in front of me. It got tighter and I felt a warmth of air hit my abs through fabric. My gaze fell on the unknown source nearly under me. Laura. Her hands wrapped around me, her face buried in to the fabric covering my stomach. I felt her hot breath hitting me hard, her small form shaking. It appeared to me, that she was crying, her sobs - silent. "Please! Let her go.... Don't be sad......" she squeezed me tighter. Sad? I was not..... My head moved up. In the dark brown glass decor, I saw my face. I felt mad, angry and all kind of other emotions, but the only one visible was the sorrow and pain. The expression I have never seen on myself before. It looked so foreign, I looked so strange in my own eyes. "Please don't kill my friend, Bryce! ..... Please.....please..... please stop it...." From the shock, I released Sharlene's ...
.... previously ....
(in a story "A living THING")
After a virus infected robot attack, Kyra's Elkwood's father buys for her a most advanced robot - a bodyguard to protect her from other infected robot encounters. Kyra has a strong fear of human machines, because of her mothers death, who was killed by one. She tries her hardest to find her inner piece, while living with one very handsome, but threateningly looking android.
Everybody falls in love with him, as soon as they set eyes on this new machine called Bryce. Slowly Kyra notices strange behaviors in him. Something that not suppose to be characteristic to a robot, more to a human, but everybody else fails to notice it.
Meanwhile more infected robots appear in Amber city, their violent behavior leading to innocent human deaths. Somehow Kyra has a feeling, that her own robot is infected too. More time passes and more weirder her android gets.
After a night out with her dear friends Sharlene and Laura, Kyra gets in dangerous situation with a local gang. Luckily she is saved from near death by her bodyguard, but Bryce is not the same, does not look the same nor behaves the same. He kills the attackers with no struggle and proceeds to get his hands on his owner too. Her bodyguard gets hold of her and does not let go, while Kyra is panicking for her life. He knocks her out.
Hearing the story from their friends perspective, it appeared, that Bryce did not want to harm her or make her scared, but he did kill people. A new flare of fear takes over her. Kyra has to start everything all over, to make herself trust him again.
In a moment of fear and no escape they share their feelings to each other, after Bryce have been sent for SEB virus testing. The results are negative and her robot says her the same, that he is not infected, but at this point Kyra knows, that he is. She keeps her suspicions to herself. Both of them slowly starts to trust each other again. Aware of his state, Kyra notices that Bryce can feel - feel the touch, the pain, emotions. All because of the SEB virus, which gives robot a chance to feel and have consciousness - separate from their programmed one.
Bryce have had special feelings for his owner for a long time and now he starts to express them towards her.
Kyra' s heart feels the same way, but her mind does not want to accept the fact that Bryce is capable of feeling love for her. A huge argument breaks up and unintentionally, he attacks Kyra. Desperate and fearing for her life, she calls for help and sends him back to the company, that made him, to remove him from service due to an infection. No one is fully aware of the state he is in and how far the infection has progressed. Bryce puts back on his normal behavior and does not receive the harsh treatment from the capturing team, as the infected should get. They are oblivious of the danger everybody is in.
The discovery of the SEB virus in him, makes another innocent human loose his life. And now Bryce have to face the consequences. But nothing will stop him from going back to his owner and nothing will change his feelings for Kyra.
***
CyRo - Head Of SEB Containing Program, POV
Today I am gonna receive SEB infected robot. Some time ago, we got the call from somebody about the attack. Our rescuing team should be back with it soon. I just wonder, what it's gonna be? Probably nothing new to me. Some infected robot and I hardly doubt, it is even CyRo origins. I have received some specimens before, but they all looked.... just normal, there was nothing visually indicating their state of infection. There must be something, something visible to it. I have that feeling, I know, but we have not seen it yet. They all come partly destroyed and I don't have a time to scramble through their jumbled parts to find infected one. Mostly virus is located in their main microchip, but who knows, one day we might find it somewhere else in their bodies.
The door behind me opens and I see a one of rescuing teem members, with a robot - big one. Is it CyRo model? I wait for them to come closer, as they are 30 meters away from me at this point.
This place is spacious, like a separate warehouse. I have few rows of robotic parts here, but not so many as in warehouse floors bellow. A desk is located near a wall with computer systems. Wide space is separating the rows of mechanical parts and a station, were I do my examinations. The room is very bright, in white colors, contrasting with dark metallic robot parts hanging in rows.
I notice, this robot is not constricted with any kind of equipment. Are they really dumb? If he is infected, they should take extreme precocious steps capturing them. And why there is only one member is escorting it?
"Hey, what is a meaning of this!" I shout to a man. "Why is he not bound in any way and why are you alone?"
"He... He seems OK. The young lady was the one who called, but when we arrived, he was just chilling there. And he came willingly with us. No protesting and objecting. I don't see a need to restrict him."
"Dumb ass! Still you have to do, what protocol says." Idiots, total idiots.
As they have almost reached me, I take a notice of this robot. Seems like I have seen him somewhere before. Few more steps and finally I see his face clearly. Now I remember. Model SCS-6.
"Oh. This one. I understand you now, why you did not constrict him. He is fucking harmless. He have been here so many times before. I am tired of this. That stupid woman doesn't know when to stop. Just wasting our time."
"Can I leave him here?"
"Yeah, go ahead! I don't need you."
A man leaves this room and I am left alone with this harmless machine. His face is still, like allways, nothing abnormal.
"So, we see each other again. What's the problem? Does your owner got delusional again? Stupid woman, right? Why didn't you not tell her to drop this nonsense? Wasting our precious time with false calls."
The huge robot did not answer me, just looked straight in my eyes.
"Let me take a camera. I will check up on you, just in case. Sit there, while I prepare myself! And remove your clothing!"
He shifts his body to the table and sits down. I am still totally annoyed. It is the third time, he have been here, with the same problem - SEB infection. We tested him the first time for many hours and there was nothing that indicated even a slightest possibility of the virus. Second time she came to us with some imaginary symptoms and now - he attacked her. Ridiculous. I turned on my camera and started to document this case.
"Tuesday, 9 pm. Received call from one of our clients, robot attack." I walked around the android. "No visible indications of infection. His appearance - calm, complying. No resistance of any kind. Previously been through special SEB testing. Been brought for check ups, nothing abnormal discovered. Seems to be a false call or a prank. Going to check his inner system."
Standing behind the android I pushed a sensory button on his naked upper back. I saw a small twitch go through his body, but I paid no attention to it. Two panels came open.
"Holly shit! What the hell is this?"
I couldn't believe my eyes. I saw.... I saw his back full of blood vessels, cris-crossing the metal parts inside of him. I could see a blood flowing inside of them. How is that even posible? How did he get these? On some parts I noticed a newly formed muscle tissue and barely visible tendon fragments. My mind couldn't comprehend this. Is it SEB virus or what? I backed off from him as he was still siting on a examining table.
"They have to see this!" I said quietly to myself.
In seconds his body was turned towards me and his huge hand came straight to my neck. His face completely different from his previous appearance, twisted in anger. I feel his fingers cut deeper into my neck and the air is completely denied for my lungs. I try to pry his hands off and free myself, throwing punches in his way. But there is no point to my week ones, as his strong grip tightens stronger around my neck. A barely audible word escapes my throat: "Why!"
"You saw, what you did not need to see!" was the robot's growling answer.
I felt my legs loose the touch of the ground beneath me, as he lifted me up in the air. I felt my neck vertebrae crack and sudden blackness consumed me.
Bryce's POV.
I felt a satisfying crack of his neck and dropped him on the ground next to my feet. He was done. That arrogant prick. It angered me so much, the way he talked about Kyra. She is not stupid and dumb. She is even smarter than this piece of meat on the floor. She was the only person, who partly new, what was happening to me, not even professionals could detect my infection. It took me my whole strength to keep my raging emotions inside of me and not to make them visible on my face as I was sitting on this table before.
For this, I will definitely get in trouble. There is no way, I can get through this unnoticed and unpunished. Kyra... I need her... I have to get back to her, before I am really captured and disposed off. Just one last time.
A subtle sound of footsteps echo behind me somewhere deeper in a warehouse. I turn around and see a woman in a white lab coat with dark red flowing hair. With glasses and a tiny box in her hands. Another one of these annoying humans. My rage flares with a new power and I walk towards her. She just looks at me, no fear visible in her face. Her eyes shining with a slight excitement. What is she excited about? Dying? Well, that is what she will get. A few steps is separating us, as she shouts to me quietly.
"Stop! I mean no harm to you. Please, don't hurt me!"
"Why would I consider such option? You are still one of them. You have to die!"
"No, no! I am not. I am not one of CyRo." I stop in my tracks, but don't take my eyes away from her. "Are you a robot? Infected one?"
"What if I am?"
"I... I can help you. Help you to get away from here, somewhere safe."
"Why would I trust you?"
"Trust me. I promise, there is a reason. Just come with me."
I eyed her for a minute. Is she really telling the truth. I don't see anything in her that would indicate, she is lying.
I close a panel on my back, reaching with my hand to touch the sensory button. I did not bother to close it straight away after I killed that man.
"Give me a minute."
I turn back to a dead body on the floor. His camera is still running. If I leave this place safely, I have to leave a message for my Kyra. I bend down, so the camera is facing me, which is still attached to dead man's head. It pains me, that I cannot go straight to her, but soon, soon I will take her with me.
"I am coming for you, Kyra!"
I still feel the anger inside of me as I say these words - towards everybody right now and towards myself in regards of Kyra. I am mad at myself, because I did horrible things to her.
I turn back to face this mysterious woman.
"What is your name?"
"Natalie.... Natalie Leary."
Thea's dreams have come true. She has her new love, new husband and a new life, but not everything is perfect. Being thrown in to a world so different, than she had ever experienced, brings new problems in her life, more worries, which will need to be overcome to keep her happiness and her family together. Becoming a queen is the complete opposite of what she was before. She is happy, but for how long will it last? Thea will have to endure - with help of others or completely alone. Will this be a journey of her life, that will break or make her stronger?
After a traumatic, virus infected, robot attack, Kyra has to live with her father's purchased android bodyguard. Her life long fear of robots does not make it any easier, as she have to spend all her time with this strange 'man'. He is perfect. Everyone seems to fall in love with him. But there is something more to him. What if he is not just a simple machine. Kyra notices, he is not so perfect as everyone thinks. He is acting strange and does weird things, that Kyra cannot rationalize. Time passes and it seems he is getting worse. Is she safe from her own bodyguard? What is happening to her robot? And what meaning she has in his life?
Miakoda is a young werewolf, but so different from all others in her pack and not in a good way. She have not been able to shift ever before, have not been able to find her mate nor companionship from others. But it all changes, when her working colleague offers her her friendship and a chance to go on a 'risky' trip with other youngsters. Their journey takes them to the far edge of the pack's territory, where Miakoda finally gets her answers. It should be a happiest day of her life, but it turns out for worst - a nightmare she will never be able to erase from her memory, nor probably, from her future life. She have become a part of an old tale and a part of a doom for her own pack.
"See, she is totally disobedient. You are gonna regret, if you take her." his old man said again. He didn't answer him. He bent down, little bit closer to me and pulled some strands of my hair away, to get a better look at me. My eyes were shut tight. Please, not me, not me. I was chanting in my head. He curved his smooth fingers around my chin and pulled it lightly, in attempt to make face him. As I did not, he took a stronger hold of it and forcefully made me finally look at him. "I said, look at me!" his voice was more threatening than before. I opened my blue, teary eyes and finally looked at the boy, who was bugging me.
There was only one man in Raegan's heart, and it was Mitchel. In the second year of her marriage to him, she got pregnant. Raegan's joy knew no bounds. But before she could break the news to her husband, he served her divorce papers because he wanted to marry his first love. After an accident, Raegan lay in the pool of her own blood and called out to Mitchel for help. Unfortunately, he left with his first love in his arms. Raegan escaped death by the whiskers. Afterward, she decided to get her life back on track. Her name was everywhere years later. Mitchel became very uncomfortable. For some reason, he began to miss her. His heart ached when he saw her all smiles with another man. He crashed her wedding and fell to his knees while she was at the altar. With bloodshot eyes, he queried, "I thought you said your love for me is unbreakable? How come you are getting married to someone else? Come back to me!"
On their wedding night, Rogelio wrapped his fingers around Marian's neck and spat at her, "Congratulations! From now on, you live in hell!" The reason for his wrath was that he believed she was responsible for the death of his elder brother. So, he married her but refused to touch her, determined to make her suffer for the rest of her pitiful life! However, due to an unforeseen accident, Marian was forced to sleep with Rogelio in order to save him, and she ended up getting pregnant. Concealing her pregnancy, Marian lived cautiously under Rogelio's watchful eyes. He hated her and relentlessly humiliated her, yet he would never allow anyone else to lay a finger on her— "Mr. Bailey, your wife got into a fight with someone!" Rogelio secretly took action, eliminating that person completely. "Sir, your wife claimed that all of your family's wealth belongs to her!" Rogelio quietly transferred all the shares to her. Unaware of all this, Marian only wanted to escape, but Rogelio pulled her into his warm embrace, whispering, "Mrs. Bailey, where do you intend to go with our unborn child?"
Sandra Hill, the long-lost real heiress of the Hill family, was shunned by her own kin. Instead of embracing her, they bestowed their affection upon an impostor. They even arranged her to marry a vegetative man in place of her so-called “sister”. Sandra sneered, refusing to put up with this humiliation, cut off ties with the Hill family immediately and ran into the flash marriage with Wesley Cooper, her unconscious billionaire husband. With her incredible medical skills, she defied the odds and revived him. Little did she expect that her husband spoiled her with all his love... A medical genius, a computer prodigy, a national treasure in painting, and a racing legend... Her husband revealed her various identities, leaving the Hill family regretful. Her father came pleading, "It's Dad's fault. Please come back." Her mother wept, "Mom will protect you from now on. Please come back." Even her five brothers knelt before he, begging for forgiveness. Yet, Sandra's smile held a hint of mockery as she vowed, “Never!”
After spending a night with a strange man on the day before her wedding, Arianna left the country to start her life afresh. The 22-year-old Arianna Jason lived her life pleasing those she loved the most, without knowing that she was simply a prey being nurtured for the day of her ruin. Her life has tasted the butter pill of betrayal. She wants to give back to the world what she's got but how can she change her good, innocent personality to fit into a cruel society and world? Can her sweet nature be contaminated, or will she make it through, paddling on the right path?
Three years ago, Cecilia was left battered and alone by the man she loved most, Alston, yet she bravely completed the wedding ceremony while pregnant. Three years later, although they were married, they grew apart over time. Cecilia focused on her career, no longer foolishly believing in love. But her transformation instantly threw Alston into a panic... And what is the secret from 11 years ago that Cecilia has always been reluctant to reveal? *** "She went to a law firm, met with a lawyer..." A lawyer? Is Cecilia suing someone? Who? Is there any recent litigation against the company? Alston suddenly chuckled coldly, "Who could she sue? I'm the CEO of this company. How come such a matter doesn't come to me first?" The assistant swallowed nervously, speaking softly, "Sir, there's no litigation against the company. She met with... a divorce lawyer."
Belinda thought after divorce, they would part ways for good - he could live his life on his own terms, while she could indulge in the rest of hers. However, fate had other plans in store. "My darling, I was wrong. Would you please come back to me?" The man, whom she once loved deeply, lowered his once proud head humbly. "I beg you to return to me." Belinda coldly pushed away the bouquet of flowers he had offered her and coolly replied, "It's too late. The bridge has been burned, and the ashes have long since scattered to the wind!"