Blood of Mortals

I'm Nothing

"2 minutes before security tech comes back online," I whispered to myself.

Minimizing my screen back into my wristwatch, I made my way to the clothes store across the street.

I immediately walked to an area out of the staff's view and quickly shoved a set of clothes into my backpack.

My wristwatch read 17 seconds left before security is back online.

Looking uninterested in the store, I made my way out and blended into the crowd.

Welcome to the year 2148.

The world is no longer how it was 20 years ago.

How come?

Humans have found the way to eternal life.

By preserving one's heart, lungs, and brain in an android's body and sealing it all up in artificial flesh, humans now live forever.

Before I could continue recapping myself on how much the world has changed, I was blocked by a bunch of commotion before me.

I looked over everyone's heads to see the security forces arresting a woman and dragging her into an open portal in the ground.

I shrugged it aside and left quickly.

That woman was arrested for still living in a human body.

Allow me to clarify. Ever since the perfect android model was created, everyone above the age of 16 was forced to transfer their consciousness into android bodies.

This kept on until every living human in the world was transferred.

Just like that woman, those who were against the movement were transferred under force. Some accepted their fate.

Others committed suicide by tearing themselves apart all the way down to their preserved hearts and brains.

Today, almost no one has a regular human body.

I walked on all the way to my junkyard home outside city limits.

Hanging my wristwatch under sunlight for it to recharge, I removed the stolen clothes from my backpack after.

Pulling my shirt off, I accidentally cut my arm with an overhanging scrap of metal.

Blood dripped out of the cut.

I haven't taken an android body.

Walking to a shattered mirror, I took a look at the cut.

Looked pretty bad.

I ripped my old shirt and wrapped it around my arm.

When I was younger and running from the law was still new to me, I used to be covered with injuries.

That's changed over the 10 years.

As a man aged 24, the only injuries that cover my dark skin now are the scars from years ago.

I slipped into my usual attire of running shoes, jeans, a t-shirt, and a jacket.

My cap was only used for going outside.

It's useful for hiding your face from the cops.

I ran my fingers through my short and wavy dark hair to comb it to the side.

Looking at my dark blue eyes through shattered glass, anyone could tell that I'm tired and exhausted from running from the law for nearly a decade.

Fortunately for me, no one has looked at me in the eye for years now.

In fact, I haven't heard anyone say my name, Verdil Klitren, since they killed everyone in this heap of junk.

That's because I'm nothing.

Regardless of being nothing, I'm hunted down by my own species every day.