Amanita: Poison Shot

Chapter 8: Unethical Monsters

"What?!" I exclaimed in a rusty whisper.

I rubbed my eyes because of the itchiness. The rubbish bin didn't smell as bad after a while, but the awful scent of burning debris and dust from the recent explosion was prickling my eyes.

"I said, I've just hacked your nanochip," the mysterious biker and terrorist replied. "Now it doesn't work properly. I haven't removed it. They can't be removed, you know that."

I did. But I couldn't grasp what he meant.

"Hacking your chip means that now it only sends irrelevant data instead of the truth. We're safe in that sense. All sensitive data that might compromise you is filtered out before the GSNS can obtain it. Your real thoughts and actions are 100% yours now. Get it?"

I nodded briefly even though I was terrified. "Wait. How did you manage to hack your chip? Even thinking about doing it would get you caught. It's punishable!"

"Well, I didn't hack my chip myself. My boss did it for me. She's-"

"Was she the first to do it?! But how?" Curiosity was burning inside me.

"She had help too. One day, you'll find it out." He smiled briefly. "Now, we're running out of time. By the way, have you seen my weapons before I hacked your chip?"

"No, I-"

"If you had, there's no need to worry." He didn't let me finish. "There's a two-minute backtracking protocol which erases from the GSNS logs what you've seen and thought two minutes before you got your chip hacked."

He started storing his weapons and ammo back into his backpack in a hurry. He was detaching his firearm as if he had done it a million times.

"We have to get outta here. These nosey cops will make our escape hard, but don't worry. I'll take you somewhere safe."

"B-but- you've... just... bombed the BioBank." The music of my voice sounded out of tune.

"I won't hurt you. I can explain. Everything. Later. But you need to do as I say, okay?"

"I... I can't." I didn't want to go with him. Everything felt surreal. "B-bombing b-buildings and murdering people is unethical. I hate v-violence. Ever since I was taught history in school. What do you want to achieve?"

He stopped putting his stuff in the backpack and stared at me with a frown. My pacifism collided hard against his cold demeanour.

"Isn't it obvious?" The coldness in his voice iced me from head to toe.

"Besides, w-why do you think I'm c-coming with you no questions asked? I'm not a criminal like you. I don't want to be an unethical monster."

"Like the clones, I hope you mean?" His stare was hard on me. "You're young, but you must've already experienced what their laws do to us. They kill us when we get ill or become forty-five. They are monsters," he whispered with self-righteousness as if I didn't already know that was true. However, something in the way he had uttered that statement made me feel like he had been branded by that harsh truth in a way that would make my stomach churn. He might have a backstory to reinforce that hatred.

That mysterious guy's long, wavy, light brown hair got in the way of his intense, green eyes while he was staring at me in the semidarkness. I felt as if I was a sandcastle and those imposing eyes were the sea, threatening to destroy me, to wash me away. I would have to yield to them, and the truth behind them, soon enough.

His voice was laced with sadness as he went on, "I know what I've done is awful. This world is sick. That's the reason why I've bombed the BioBank... and why you need to come with me. With my boss and my fellow rebels."