The Human Farm (The Human Farm Trilogy Book 1) (16 page)

37   

The camp seemed so empty with everyone gone, the quietness settled over Little Lili and Gwen as they sat near the fire. Gwen had fed Lili her liquefied breakfast while Little Lili played with her doll and talked with the animals near the pens. Gwen went around cleaning up the living area of the camp, not really knowing what else to do with herself.  

Little Lili came and sat by Lili’s side and watched her sleep, she couldn’t understand how someone could sleep so long and not wake up. She reached up to touch her face, placing her hand on her cheek. The moment the two Lilis touched big Lili sat straight up in bed gasping as if she’d not had a breath in a long time, “Danger,” she yelled as she looked around the camp.   

She looked around the camp and saw only a small girl that looked remarkably like herself and a very shocked Gwen staring back at her. “Lili, oh Lili you’re finally awake,” she exclaimed as she wiped tears from her eyes and ran to her, wrapping her arms around her.   

“H..how long was I asleep?” she asked.  

“You have been unconscious for nearly two weeks Lili,” Gwen said.

Lili looked at her stunned, “How is that possible? The last thing I remember was taking off the head of that guardian in the tunnel who’s this pretty young thing and where are the others?”   

“That was weeks ago Lili, we’ve all been so worried, you’d lost so much blood we were afraid we’d lost you,” She said hugging her again. “This is Little Lili, yes she is just like you in looks and in name and no we don’t understand it either. The others left a few hours ago to D.C. to the mainframe. I volunteered to stay here and care for you.”   

Lili smiled, “Thank you Gwen that means so much to me.”

She smiled and blushed at her thanks. Lili managed to stand with a little help from Gwen. She went and stood by the fire and got warm while Gwen made her something solid and fresh to eat. The noises from the animals could be heard from the living area and it was the first time Lili had heard the sound of cows since leaving the farm.

She looked up with a shocked smile, “Cows?” she asked.   

Little Lili giggled, “There’s lots of them over by the barn, come on I’ll show you.”

Lili followed the girl over to the barn area and was amazed to see the amount of work the others had done while she’d been sleeping. An almost completed barn and a fenced in pasture filled with a couple dozen cows. “Wow this is amazing, so many cows, but how did they manage to get so many cows in here?”   

“They used the horsies to scare the cows into walking in here. They ride on em it’s lots of fun, Kev took me riding with him on one it was really fun,” she said.   

“Horsies huh, well I’ll have to hear all about this later, right now I’m starving and I can smell the food Gwen is cooking, let’s go eat shall we?” Lili said.    

The food wasn’t quite ready when they got there so they sat on the bed and waited, Lili reached out to take Little Lili by the hand, the moment they touched she saw an image of two guardian units coming into camp and capturing them. She was shocked and let go of the girl, “Danger, Gwen, quickly stop what you’re doing, put the fire out, we must hide, grab a hatchet. Little Lili go to the barn, climb to the loft and stay there until we come for you, go now.”    

Without another word the girl grabbed her doll and ran. Gwen looked curiously at Lili but could tell by the tone in her voice she was serious and did as she asked. She quickly doused the fire and grabbed two hatchets tossing one to Lili.

“Here,” Lili said, “they will enter from here. If we hide behind these trees, here and here we can get up behind them, go quickly.”

They took a stance behind the trees ready to strike just the way Lili had said and waited. It wasn’t long of a wait, maybe two or three minutes and the two guardians walked right past them expecting to find them off guard. Both Lili and Gwen came up behind them taking aim, ready to strike at the same time. Lili being sure to take extra care not to hit herself again, they struck at the same moment severing the heads from the guardians.   

The bodies fell to the ground and the heads rolled away. Gwen looked at Lili in amazement, “How did you know?”

“I’m not sure, when Little Lili touched me I had a vision of this. I saw them coming in and taking us. I have a feeling our friends that went to D.C. are in trouble. We have to go save them.”  

“Well what are we waiting for, but what about Little Lili?”

“We take her with us, I have a feeling the two of us together will be a great thing in helping free our friends,” she said. “I will go get her, start gathering supplies we will need.”   

Gwen went to work gathering everything they would need into a pile.  The remaining food and medicines and the water, they rolled the supplies up in some blankets and packed them in the sacks. She grabbed the rest of the ammo and weapons and packed them near the top of the pack so they would be easily accessible.   

Lili made her way over to the barn and climbed up to the loft, “Lili it’s ok, you can come out now it is safe.”   

The girl popped her head up over a beam, wiping away a tear from her fear stricken face. “Are the bad things gone?” she asked.   

“You saw the vision as I did didn’t you little one?” Lili asked her.   

She nodded her head, “It is ok little one, it was just a glimpse of what could have happened. We stopped them, now we must travel to save our friends. Do you think you’re up to going on an adventure to help our friends?” she asked her. 

“To help Reggie and Kev?” She asked.   

“Yes little one, Reggie and Kev and all the others, I fear they are in danger and need our help. I think with the two of us together we can save them, will you help me?”

Little Lili looked at her and smiled, “Yes I want to save our friends, very much so, can we go now?”    

“Yes little one we leave immediately,” she said.

They climbed down out of the loft and went to help Gwen finish packing the supplies she had most of the stuff already gathered into the piles and rolled up, all that was needed was to stuff them into the packs. They needed to be sure they were distributed evenly and that they didn’t take more than the two of them could carry.

They knew that if they didn’t return with the guards others would no doubt be sent out to look for them so they wouldn’t be able to travel on the road as the others had, they would have to stick to the woods and surrounding areas and head in the same direction hoping they could get to their friends before anything bad could happen to them.   

They went to the cattle pens and set their cows loose, they didn’t know how long they’d be gone or if they would make it back and there was no sense in keeping the poor creatures penned up without food or freedom. They took one last look around their home and left, not knowing if they would ever see the place they’d carved out for themselves again on this paradise above the grounds on a world they’d thought all their lives to be poisoned.    

They ventured out now, into a world of the unknown, into a world of threats and possible violence that awaited them around every turn and in every bush. There were beings of uncalculated mental capacity against them and they had to overcome all these odds if they were going to come out of this alive and save their friends and indeed save their entire race. They shoved aside their fear and their panic and they forged ahead into the unknown wilderness far from their little corner of the woods and headed south through the dark shadowy woods that would take them to a city some two hundred miles to the south called D.C. where their friends awaited them.

Lili looked up to the stars and wondered to herself what lie out there beyond the world, what wonders were out there that could possibly guide and help them along this impossible journey they were now undertaking. She watched as a single star shot across the sky, she hoped and wished with all her might that her friends were ok and that she would arrive in time to find them all alive.   

As they walked she took Little Lili’s hand and they both shared a vision of their friends. Gar, Sara and Kev asleep on cots in small rooms. Dawn, Reggie and Bard sitting still and silent in similar rooms doing nothing but sitting. All of them locked in small rooms with large iron doors blocking their way. She dropped her hand and had a slight smile, she could at least be happy for this much, they were alive.   

38

Time seemed like it stood still in the windowless cell as Kev lie on the tiny cot staring up at the white tiled ceiling. The hours ticked by, minute by minute, as food came and went through the tiny slot in the door. He would get no word of his friends, there was no human companionship of any kind to be had. He thought he might go mad if he had to endure too much more of this nothingness.

Kev had no clue how long he had been locked up inside the room when he heard the lock turning and the squeaking of the door as it swung open. “You will come with me human.”

Figures, they can’t even send a human to fetch me
. He thought to himself as he rose from the cot. For one small instant he thought of making a run for it, but he knew he could never out-run a guardian. So he simply walked to the door and did as he was commanded. They walked down the hall for several feet before turning the corner. They entered a room that was empty save for an odd looking chair with straps in the middle and a door at the opposite end.   

“You will sit here.” The guardian commanded.

Kev hesitated for a moment as he looked at the chair. “What is going on?” He asked as he looked around the room, trying to think of a way out of this. “Why have you brought me here?”

“You are to be questioned. Now sit human, or I will make you sit.”

Kev knew better than to resist a guardian and did as he was instructed. Once he was in the chair the guardian strapped his arms and legs into the chair and left the room. Kev was left alone to worry about what was going to happen to him now. It was only moments later that he heard the door behind him open, he could hear footsteps coming up behind him. They stopped just before they reached him, Kev was unable to turn his head enough to get a look at who was behind him.

“So it would seem our friends managed to get away from the guardians we sent after them at the camp.”

Kev knew that voice. “Mal, you traitor. Why have you done this?”

Mal laughed, “Haven’t you figured it out yet Kev? I’m a counselor, in fact I’m the councilor in charge of the farm below this very city. I’m in charge of this very city we are in now.”

“But those guardians, they were taking you away to be processed. I saw it myself.”

“You saw what I wanted you to see Kev. You see, we knew that you and Lili had managed to escape from your farm. You were spotted by the drones, moving about the countryside. I knew it was only a matter of time before you came this way, so I set a trap, and here you are. Now all I need to know is how to find your friends and bring them here, and that is why you are sitting here now. You are going to tell me everything you know about them. How to find them, where they might go, what they know about us, everything.”   

“I won’t tell you anything. I betrayed Lili once to councilors, I will never do that again.”

“Oh you will, I promise you. In the end you will break.”

Kev felt a cold metal object press against his neck, then all he could feel was a cold blinding pain, unlike anything he had every felt before, it coursed through his body. He lost control of his bodily functions as his bladder emptied in a puddle around him, his screams filled the air. It felt as though the pain lasted hours, but only lasted seconds in reality. Kev slumped in his chair, barely able to catch his breath.   

“You see my friend, in the end you will crack. They all do.” Said Mal with a slight cackle.

39

They had to walk deep enough into the woods to be sure no drones would be able to spot them from the air; this meant they would lose sight of the road and take the chance of getting lost. Without their android friends for protection and guidance, the girls would need to take extra care in their travels. Lili learned enough from Dawn to survive on the plants and wildlife in the area. However, she had no clue what she would do if they ran into too many A.I. units.

Since leaving the camp two days ago, they had been wandering deeper into the thickening forest. The girls had been walking for several hours when little Lili suddenly let out an ear splitting scream. Lili and Gwen rushed to her side, tears streaming from her eyes as they looked upon her face. The moment big Lili touched her she knew why the girl had screamed. Somewhere far away Kev was in pain, more pain than any human should ever have to endure. She wiped the tears from her eyes, “It’s ok little one, we’ll save them. Somehow.”

Gwen looked at the both of them with a puzzled look. “What happened?”

“I’m not sure how but when we first touched something awoke inside of us when I touch someone or something I can see glimpses of things. That is how I knew the guardians were coming to the camp to get us. Apparently Little Lili can feel what others are feeling because right now Kev is being tortured. I saw it when I touched her, they are trying to find out where we are.” Lili told her.

Gwen looked at her with a horrified look on her face, tears streamed down her cheeks. “We have to do something.”

“I know, but what can we do? All we can do for now is keep moving, we will worry about what to do when we get there, if we ever get there. I’m afraid we may need to try and make our way out towards the road; we need to see if we are even headed in the right direction.”

              Lili stood up adjusting the pack on her shoulders, “We need to keep moving.”   

They started walking, not really knowing where they were heading. By now they had completely lost their way and were wandering blindly among the trees. Deeper into the forest they wandered, the further they walked the darker it seemed to get. The canopy above them grew so thick they could no longer see the sky. Lili knew it was not night time, yet it was just as dark.

“Lili, I hate to say it but I think we are lost. We can barely see where we are going. We should turn around and go back the way we came.” said Gwen.

“I know, you’re right. But what if that just puts us deeper into this forest?” She asked.

Lili let the pack slip from her back and laid it against a tree. “We should rest for now. Let’s gather some wood and build a fire, at least we will be able to see something. Once we have a fire then we can figure out what we will do next; maybe make some torches to help see in this sunless place.”

Little Lili sat huddled against the tree near Lili’s pack while the two adults wandered blindly along the ground searching for any wood they could get their hands on. It was not long before they had a small fire burning, casting an eerie glow in the dark forest around them. They sat and ate a light meal from the food they had brought with them as they thought about what they would do next.   

“Lili, Gwen, look at the pretty lights.”

The girls looked at little Lili puzzled, “What lights Lili?” asked Gwen. “The only light in this place is from our fire.”

“Those lights.” She said as she pointed at the woods behind the two girls.

The two girls both turned to look where she had pointed to see flickering lights dotting the surrounding forest growing in numbers. They were getting closer and closer with each passing moment. The two girls quickly moved to sit beside little Lili and they both grabbed the guns that had been placed near the tops of their packs.

All but two of the lights stopped at the line of their site, the other two slowly crept ahead getting closer. The light was blinding when in comparison to the surrounding darkness making it impossible to make out who or what was carrying it. “Who are you?” Lili called out.