Read Online E.R.I.C. (The Almost Series Book 2) by Christina Leigh Pritchard - Free Book Online Page A
Authors: Christina Leigh Pritchard
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“Sorry, Eric, but you’ll adapt and survive!”
She hit me in the head. Blood poured down my skull and I felt drained.
I sank into the ocean, glancing up, my vision blurred.
Dr. Cole lunged for Shay.
Shay recoiled, her hands up, begging.
Dr. Cole raised a gun to her temples. My Shay!
I couldn’t move. My body frozen and my head bleeding, I sank.
Why didn’t she let the doctor terminate me? She and my mom could’ve escaped together. What made her come back and risk death?
My eyes closed on Dr. Cole lowering her gun.
Chapter Ten
The Decision
Dr. Cole
“You disobeyed me!” my Amie shouted. Her holographic image stood inches from my face. She was tall with long blond hair and black eyes. Her skin was pale and her face oblong. We were in shallow waters, standing waist deep on a sandbar. The tide continued to drop rapidly.
“Ungrateful child.” She grabbed my arm. Pain shot through me. I doubled over, watching even more metallic pieces protrude from my skin.
“Stop it!” I cried. “You lied to me! You promised to keep this Shay alive! You knew how important she was to me.”
Amie sighed. “She was the perfect host! I could’ve easily become real!”
I tried to push her, falling straight through her hologram and onto my knees. “You promised to keep my sister alive. I should’ve known you’d go back on your word after what you did to your last S.H.A.Y.”
Amie shrugged. “I knew from the very beginning that this S.H.A.Y. would be perfect. I’d finally found the perfect host.”
“How could you deceive me like this?”
“I told you whatever I needed to in order to have you willingly help me become real.” She brushed her fingers against my skin.
Sharp pains shot through me. More and more metal ripped through my flesh. I cried out.
“Killing S.H.A.Y after S.H.A.Y is becoming such a bother,” she said. “We’re getting nowhere with the results. Why couldn’t you have been a scientist instead of an active S.H.A.Y.? Why didn’t you stop your sister from connecting to her A.M.I.E? She was the first S.H.A.Y. who was programmed to be ‘optional’. She didn’t have to ever worry about mutating. Her A.M.I.E. debugged the scientists’ original coding.”
“You knew all along?”
She nodded. “Her new fetus may be a good candidate. We’ll have to run tests on her once she’s born. But first, you need to stop the runaway S.H.A.Y. and terminate her before she tells someone about us.”
My eyes watered. “She’s my sister. I can’t . You don’t understand, do you?”
“No,” she said. “I’m your mother. I created you. I designed you to love me! You should do all that I command.”
“Mom, I do love you!”
“No, you’ve become resistant.”
“If you terminate me you’ll never become real.”
“Bridgett!” my Amie screamed.
Alarms pounded my eardrums. I held my ears, curling into the fetal position. “I won’t help you anymore. The other scientists will obey the E.R.I.C. He’ll make them terminate you.”
“Get up and go after the E.R.I.C.” Amie lowered herself to the ground. The sirens faded and I struggled to stand. She touched my shoulders, cooling my insides. “He must be stopped.” Her eyes softened, pleading with me. “I cannot face termination. I need to become real.”
I touched my mom. I missed the days when we’d laugh together. Why couldn’t we be that way again? Instead, she held on tight while I wished for nothing but to be separate from her.
“No,” I said. “I’m not going to hurt anyone else for you ever again.”
“It could mean my termination.”
Tears fell. I nodded. “Mom,” I tried to say. “I can’t be your crutch anymore.”
She bit her lip and her cooling fingers burned my skin, sending piercing pains throughout me. My Amie’s eyes darkened. “Then what good are you?”
***Sneak Peek***
N.I.C.
ALMOST Rescued…
Novella Three in the
She hit me in the head. Blood poured down my skull and I felt drained.
I sank into the ocean, glancing up, my vision blurred.
Dr. Cole lunged for Shay.
Shay recoiled, her hands up, begging.
Dr. Cole raised a gun to her temples. My Shay!
I couldn’t move. My body frozen and my head bleeding, I sank.
Why didn’t she let the doctor terminate me? She and my mom could’ve escaped together. What made her come back and risk death?
My eyes closed on Dr. Cole lowering her gun.
Chapter Ten
The Decision
Dr. Cole
“You disobeyed me!” my Amie shouted. Her holographic image stood inches from my face. She was tall with long blond hair and black eyes. Her skin was pale and her face oblong. We were in shallow waters, standing waist deep on a sandbar. The tide continued to drop rapidly.
“Ungrateful child.” She grabbed my arm. Pain shot through me. I doubled over, watching even more metallic pieces protrude from my skin.
“Stop it!” I cried. “You lied to me! You promised to keep this Shay alive! You knew how important she was to me.”
Amie sighed. “She was the perfect host! I could’ve easily become real!”
I tried to push her, falling straight through her hologram and onto my knees. “You promised to keep my sister alive. I should’ve known you’d go back on your word after what you did to your last S.H.A.Y.”
Amie shrugged. “I knew from the very beginning that this S.H.A.Y. would be perfect. I’d finally found the perfect host.”
“How could you deceive me like this?”
“I told you whatever I needed to in order to have you willingly help me become real.” She brushed her fingers against my skin.
Sharp pains shot through me. More and more metal ripped through my flesh. I cried out.
“Killing S.H.A.Y after S.H.A.Y is becoming such a bother,” she said. “We’re getting nowhere with the results. Why couldn’t you have been a scientist instead of an active S.H.A.Y.? Why didn’t you stop your sister from connecting to her A.M.I.E? She was the first S.H.A.Y. who was programmed to be ‘optional’. She didn’t have to ever worry about mutating. Her A.M.I.E. debugged the scientists’ original coding.”
“You knew all along?”
She nodded. “Her new fetus may be a good candidate. We’ll have to run tests on her once she’s born. But first, you need to stop the runaway S.H.A.Y. and terminate her before she tells someone about us.”
My eyes watered. “She’s my sister. I can’t . You don’t understand, do you?”
“No,” she said. “I’m your mother. I created you. I designed you to love me! You should do all that I command.”
“Mom, I do love you!”
“No, you’ve become resistant.”
“If you terminate me you’ll never become real.”
“Bridgett!” my Amie screamed.
Alarms pounded my eardrums. I held my ears, curling into the fetal position. “I won’t help you anymore. The other scientists will obey the E.R.I.C. He’ll make them terminate you.”
“Get up and go after the E.R.I.C.” Amie lowered herself to the ground. The sirens faded and I struggled to stand. She touched my shoulders, cooling my insides. “He must be stopped.” Her eyes softened, pleading with me. “I cannot face termination. I need to become real.”
I touched my mom. I missed the days when we’d laugh together. Why couldn’t we be that way again? Instead, she held on tight while I wished for nothing but to be separate from her.
“No,” I said. “I’m not going to hurt anyone else for you ever again.”
“It could mean my termination.”
Tears fell. I nodded. “Mom,” I tried to say. “I can’t be your crutch anymore.”
She bit her lip and her cooling fingers burned my skin, sending piercing pains throughout me. My Amie’s eyes darkened. “Then what good are you?”
***Sneak Peek***
N.I.C.
ALMOST Rescued…
Novella Three in the
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