Chapter 3 Chapter 3

Kyra's POV.

Darkness. Whispers - distant. I could not hear the words, but I could feel the person voicing them, coming closer. I see two hands coming out of darkness: "Kyra.... Kyra... I need you!"

I see them bloody and scratched. Oh no. It is going to get me. It is.... It is....

"Bryce!"

I wake up screaming. That dream again. I take deep intakes of air to calm myself. It was just a dream, just a dream, I repeat to myself. The darkness cloaks the Amber. My body is trembling in fear, I cannot cease the anxiety that is overwhelming me. My breathing does not help. It felt like Bryce was right next to me, saying those words, but they sounded filled with pain and regret. I glance out my bedroom's window and see police people in front of my father's house. A breath of relieve leaves me, seeing them still there. Right.... It was just a dream.

I sit in my bed for quite some time, holding my legs close to my body, as I am curled up in a ball. I feel so devastated. Silent tears start to fall on my cheeks. Bryce... Why did this need to happen? It is all my fault, only mine... If I wouldn't have tried to call to CyRo, if I wouldn't have picked up that stupid ring, nothing like this would have happened. He lost control of himself, because of me. My sobbing gets louder, as these thoughts swirl through my mind. I should have known better than to anger him. I knew, he is infected, but still I kept pushing the subject about his symptoms, made a big deal out of the changes in his body. The changes. I saw them clearly in a video. I still cannot grasp the idea of his infected state. How far it has gone, how far it has changed my android, his body and mind. Everything about him is .... he is not just a robot anymore, and not human either. His back was full of living tissue, organic tissue. And how far the virus will spread? Is it going to change him? For better or worse, I wonder. Oh my god. Bryce... I want to see him. I shouldn't, but I want to know, he is OK. Where is he? Is he alone? My chest hurts every time I think about him. My crying turns into load uncontrollable sobs, my face is all wet, the tears are making my sleeping wear dump. I do not bother to wipe my tears. There is no point, if they are just going to keep falling.

***

I feel a fabric brush against my skin and somebody talking very quietly. I open my eyes and see Laura with Sharlene in my room, as they cower my body with a warm blanket.

"Good morning, sleepyhead." Sharlene says in a whisper.

"Girls, so good to see you both." I can't hold in my emotions and burst into tears again.

They hug me, their warm bodies so close to mine. My hold on them is so tight, I am afraid, if I keep them in my embrace, I will hurt them.

"Kyra, don't cry. Everything is going to be OK. We are here with you." Laura comforts me, her voice more serious than usually.

"Girls..... Bryce... Bryce is gone... he is gone."I feel a ball of hurt sitting in my throat and can't voice the full sentences. "He... attacked me, I sent him to CyRo and .... and ... there he killed somebody... again."

"Oh my. So it is true, what they said in news. They said, he was infected. I kind of don't believe them. Bryce. He cannot be. He was so good and friendly all the time. But.... if... he really attacked you, than there must be something going on with him." Laura commented and I saw a tear leave her big eyes.

I know she really cared about him too, she was so close to him...

"He was infected, girls. And I knew it. I knew it for some time and did not tell it to anybody."

"You knew? But how? He was so normal. I never saw anything in him." Sharlene was shocked.

"Bryce pretended in front of everyone, he acted like a normal robot, except in front of me. He.... he was infected from the very beginning, he said, he was even before I bought him."

"But why? Why did he lied to us and not you too?"

"He trusted me and that's why he wanted to show me his true self. Because he has feelings for me. ...... He feels. Emotions... everything, he has blood in his body, nerves, muscles. Everything. SEB have spread trough all his body, not just to his mind."

"B..blood?" my friends said simultaneously.

I nodded with my head and couple of tears slide down my cheeks in process.

"Oh my god! And he wanted to kill you?" Laura's hand was in front of her mouth, hearing the shocking facts.

I shacked my head: "I don't know how to say it. It is so embarrassing.... He tried to rape me." And I burst in to tears, remembering that night. "I... was so scared, so scared. He looked so mad and scary. I had never seen him like that. And if I wouldn't have tried to call CyRo after I noticed his body temperature change, he would probably haven't done it in first place. I made him angry, very angry."

My friends only response was silence and pitiful look. I believe it was more shocking for them than me, as they have the first knowledge of his infection.

"You know, what they said in news about you?" Sharlene broke the silence.

I looked up at her with questioning look. These two days I spent mostly in my room. Nothing interested me and I did not bother to watch TV either.

"They said, your robot killed CyRo employee, that he was infected. And that you knew about his infection, but said nothing. You sent him to CyRo just for regular check up, not warning them about his state of sickness. That you endangered innocent people. And there was that woman, the victim's wife. She said, that you are probably behind the SEB infection. You let your robot in CyRo to infect others, as you could not get past their security yourself." told Sharlene.

"It is not true. I sent him, because he attacked me. And they were aware about his infection. They are lying. And that woman is lying too. Nothing of it is true, nothing." I shook my head frantically in denial.

"I am really worrying about you, Kyra. The most craziest reaction comes from regular people. You did not tell anybody, he is a robot. They all thought, he is a human bodyguard for you. Now the net is going crazy, because it looks like you lied them on purpose about his identity. For them, it looks like you were really plotting something, and.... maybe you are secretly trying to spread infection in other companies. And everybody is scared, because they know, he is free, roaming the streets of Amber. People are scared, that he will harm them too."

"It is not true. You have to believe me."

"Kyra, we believe you, but they don't. Hopefully they find the real person behind this. We need to prove you are innocent."