The truck flipped sideways, rolling over a few times before crashing into the side of a building. Dust and debris filled the air. Eve had braced herself while protecting Lilly. Luckily thanks to their modifications to the truck, there was not too much outer damage, but currently, the truck was completely upside down. “What the hell was that!?”

“I am not sure. I only detected something coming at us at high speed. But it seems, from the sound, it was definitely an explosive.” Aiu reported.

“Damn it… Did the war suddenly make its way over this way!?” Eve frowned as she looked down at Lilly, whose eyes we clenched tight, curled up in her embrace. “Lilly, are you okay?”

“Ye-yeah… what is going on?” Lilly lifted her head and looked at Eve. Her face was pale and she was trembling. Eve knew right away that she was scared. 

“Not sure. An explosion of some kind. For now, we need to get out of the truck. It is upside down.” Eve said as she scooted across the roof of the truck, not letting Lilly go for an instant before pushing the passenger side door open. She then slid out of the truck and slowly got up. “Lilly, I need you to climb on my back for the time being.”

“Ri-right…” Lilly did as she was told and climbed onto Eve’s back. She had her arms wrapped around Eve’s neck and her legs around her waist, being careful not to get in the way of Eve’s movement. 

Eve drew out her gun and looked around. The dust had still not settled, making it hard to see with the naked eye, but even after scanning for heat signatures, she was only able to see a hot spot where the small crater was. 

“Eve! Two more incoming! Head left!” Aiu suddenly warned. Aiu was in charge of all long range sensors since Eve was unable to multi-process things herself. 

Eve did not hesitate to run to her left towards the buildings at the side. She had just entered the building when a whistling sound was heard, and two more explosions went off on the right side of the street where the truck was. “Damn it!” Eve cursed. She could see the trucking being blown up, causing her brow to furrow. All their hard work, gone just like that.  

“Eve, what is going on!?” Lilly was scared to death. She had never been in a fire fight like this before. She could not keep her body from trembling.

“I am not sure, but something is targeting us and has us locked on. We need to keep moving.” Eve answered as she checked her weapons battery. Once she saw it was still good, she quickly headed towards the opposite side of the building. 

*Wraaaayaaan!!!*

The sound of something large moving around echoed through the sky. With each of its steps, the ground began to shake. Hearing the sound, Lilly’s grip tightened on Eve’s neck as she buried her head into Eve’s shoulder. “Eve, that is a destroyer. It is an A.I. unit that wanders around destroying any human heat signatures. The human army needs at least a squadron to take one down. You should leave me and turn off your sensors that give you a human heat signature. I will try to lure it away.”

“Are you stupid!?” Eve yelled and held Lilly’s hands that were still wrapped around her. “I will not leave you no matter what. You and I are together forever, remember?  Do You think I will let something like this end us here?” 

“But we do not have the weapons or the power to take one down!” Lilly had tears streaming down her face. She knew Eve could escape on her own. She did not want to drag down the girl she loved.

“Don’t even think of doing anything stupid, Lilly. I will not allow you to sacrifice yourself to save me when you are more vulnerable than I am. From this moment on, I forbid you from having any thoughts about self-sacrifice. We will get through this together.” Eve was determined to make it out of this. She did not wish to die or be destroyed. She also did not want Lilly using herself as bait when it would only result in her death. There was no way she was going to allow Lilly to do such a thing. Their safest bet was to rely on each other and keep running as fast as they could.

“But…” Lilly hugged Eve tighter. She decided to just keep quiet and do as she was told. She never thought she would come to love someone so much. She would sacrifice her own life for Eve if need be. Although Eve was an A.I., she did not care. To her, Eve was her everything. She was irreplaceable as Tezz was. Tezz was her daughter, and Eve was her lover. They were her family. A strange family made up of a human and two A.I.s.

“Eve, right! Now Left!” Aiu was giving direction to Eve as she ran between buildings trying to use them as cover as she continued to run, explosions going off all around her. The vibrations under her feet were getting stronger and stronger, signaling that the destroyer was getting closer with each step. 

As Eve continued to run, Tezz wiggled her way out from Lilly’s pocket and climbed onto Eve’s other shoulder, and whispered into Eve’s ear. “Lilly…. What if I….”

“Lilly, grab this brat and put her back in your pocket before she gets herself killed!” Eve yelled out, not even giving Tezz time to finish what she was saying. Before Tezz knew what was going on, Lilly had already grabbed her and stuffed her back in her special pocket. “Tezz, you stay in there!”

Tezz lowered her head. She knew she was too small to actually do anything, but she figured she could pretend to be a human using their heat signatures and run a different way. But when she looked down at her stubby feet and paws, she realized how dumb her idea was. But she also had a strange feeling. A feeling of knowing that both Lilly and Eve cared for her. She curled up inside her pocket and nuzzled her nose into Lilly’s chest. “Mama Eve and Mama really do care for me….”

At this moment, Eve had become Tezz’s second Mama in her eyes.