Section 11: The Couple Fateful Meeting

Not long after checking her body, two young adults passed by the alley with a surprised look on their faces. One of the adults was a young auburn-haired woman in glasses, she wore a long white coat and a pink sweater beneath her coat paired with blue jeans. The woman stared at Allen's corpse and checked her pulse. However, not only that she checked the inside of her mouth.

She examined her thoroughly more than I did, while her partner, a young man waited for her examination.

The young man was sporty looking, his short spiky brunette hair and his brownish eyes just screamed the look of a "sports superstar". His yellow basketball jersey and a matching short are pretty flashy, his shoes were branded new and I recognize that owl logo plastered on the shoes.

That logo belongs to a famous sports team in Alpha City, the NightOwl. Their shoe design always represented night and the color dark blue.

"She died because of cyanide poisoning", the woman said out of nowhere.

"Cyanide? From where? Did she drink it herself?", I raised my eyebrows in confusion.

The woman looked at me with the face saying, 'I want to know your name'.

She flashed me a friendly smile as she grabbed my hand spontaneously, I would like her to stay away from my hand in ten seconds but I'm sure this thick-headed woman wouldn't understand the annoyance of being grabbed so suddenly by a stranger.

"My name is Ellis Covari" she smiled and then she let go of my hand slowly.

"I'm Nash Goldstein, nice to meet a new face", Nash extended his hand to me enthusiastically.

I grabbed his hand just for ethical purposes. Otherwise, it would be impolite of me to decline the elder.

"Aria Schneider" I answered blankly.

"Are you alone? Isn't it dangerous to be alone right now? I mean with those bastard drones around" Nash asked me worriedly.

"I'm fine" replied the energetic looking man.

These passersby are either nice or a threat, I distanced myself from them a bit. The couple talks back and forth, in a loving way.

If my analysis is correct, these two must be married, perhaps newlywed couples. The matching gold rings on their ring finger indicated their commitments to each other, I'm just guessing that they're newlywed because they seemed to be in their mid-twenties.

I didn't want to get attached to these strangers too deeply, it would be better if we could just share information and parted ways later on.

"Mrs. Ellis, can you tell me about that bloody scalpel?" I pointed to the used scalpel next to Allen. Ellis looked at the scalpel meticulously, she later checked Allen's whole body for any indication of external wounds.

"She used it on herself" Ellis sighed.

Ellis lifted Allen's left hand and turned it around so that we could see her wrist. Her wrist was bloody and there's a trace of her wrist being sliced open awfully. However, whatever she sliced open caused cyanide poisoning on her body. The vomits on the ground were proof of her cyanide poisoning.

"Is this your friend?" Ellis asked me.

"Not really, But I know her" I stroke my chin.

After a moment of silence for Allen, I decided to gather some information.

"Where do you guys come from?", I tried my best to be approachable to the couple.

"We just finished our honeymoon when cyberterrorism attacked the whole city", Nash sighed heavily. "Oh yeah, we got separated from our friends cause one of the drones ambushed us on the streets just now".

"Wait, just now?", I widened my eyes in shock.

My fear has come into realization when I saw a drone flew to our way. However, the couple didn't notice the drone Gatling gun was aiming at them from behind.

"WATCH OUT!", I yelled at the couple to warn them.

Ellis was a tad late when one of the bullets grazed her shoulder, Nash pulled his lover to him as we immediately hid behind a huge trash can in the alleyway. The bullets didn't stop even when we hid, which is annoying to deal with. Nash made the initiative to throw a soda can, which he thought might distract the drone. However, his plan ended in utter failure.

I crawled backward slowly, I wanted to warn Joel about the robot but my legs frozed because of the lack of chances to strike back. I would love to retaliate but the alley is too narrow and we had no other place to hide other than the trash can. I could only kneeled in one place, waiting for the drone to close their gaps on us.

However, when I thought we were done for, the drone was caught off guard by the sudden appearance of a little boy on the drone back. The little boy jumped from the mini-market roof as he valiantly stabbed a knife to the drone eyes, blinding the drone permanently.

"Run away!" the little boy shouted as the drone wildly shot the entire alley with bullets. Unfortunately, the little boy caused a big scene that attracted other drones to our location. I ran as fast as I could from the alley.

Joel was about to pick me up when I shushed him and told him to hide. Joel was confused beyond comparison, he decided to go inside the mini-market and hid inside. The robots were focused on chasing us, the couple looked exhausted and unable to run faster.

I let them run ahead as I jumped and crushed one of the drones, however not long after another drone followed us and thus a never-ending cycle of drones. I clicked my tongue in annoyance, the horde of drones started to come one by one like a swarm of insects.

"I had a smoke grenade!", Nash yelled.

"Why the heck you didn't say that earlier!?", I groaned.

Nash threw his smoke grenade at me, I sent the smoke grenade to the swarm of drones as a means to distract them. Fortunately, the smoke grenade works.

However, knowing how they process their surroundings with techie cameras I doubt the smoke grenades would be effective for the long duration. I escaped along with the couple to an abandoned apartment building. We ran toward the stairs and hid there for a while.

I guided the couple upstairs as they walked slowly behind me. As we ascended to the second floor, there were blood trails, bullet marks, and slash marks around the apartment. It appears that some people could boldly fend themselves, which was remarkable and an act of stupidity. Being reckless is stupid, but then again I am also reckless.

I still remembered that night when Joel was almost killed by the drone, at that moment my heart stopped beating and I felt a surge of adrenaline in my veins as I immediately took action to defend Joel. Joel was an important person, he is a friend but not as important as that person. I felt rather mixed about Joel, I dislike him and like him at the same time, it's illogical.

Joel was a normal person, he's not an anomaly in my life, nor he piqued my interest. Joel is invisible for me to see, his intention and personalities were as broad as the daylight after spending one night with that timid boy. It was as if his personality disappointed me.

I walked in that narrow hallway hoping that there were unlocked apartment rooms for the couple to stay in. After making sure that the couple was alright, I would probably leave the spot. I didn't want to associate myself with strangers, attachment was nothing more than a weakness to be purged.

Fortunately, we found an empty room near the stairs. The room was messy, there were signs of someone living here before, the kitchen area dishes were still on the washbasin untouched by the owner.

Nash sat Ellis down on the cold floor inside, Ellis's injuries weren't that bad but regardless she needed to be treated immediately. I couldn't bring myself to say that I suck attending other people's wounds and I had no knowledge on how to disinfect a wound, I could only fake a smile at the couple.

If I could ease their anxiousness they would be alright, that's what I thought.

"Mister Nash, your wife is bleeding", I looked at the tired Nash who slept on the sofa. "Don't you have any first aid kit?".

"No, sadly we don't", Nash said worriedly.

Joel had a first aid kit, I told him to keep it safe in case of an emergency were to happen. I should have brought the first aid kit with me. Nash went to his beloved wife's side, he pressed his handkerchief to her wife's wound.

Nash looked at his wife dearly, his gaze was just infatuated even when his wife was dragging his feet Nash still loved him. So this emotion he currently experiences is love, I could only conclude that from the way Nash acts. They would be deeply in love with each other since they decided to vow to each other's lives so easily.

It seems like we're stuck in this place until Ellis's injuries are fixed. Nash and I exchanged gazes affirmatively, both of us searched the entire house for a sign of first aid kit. Sadly enough, no matter how much time passes we found nothing.