How do you survive in a world without rules?
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Some of them were old enough to remember what it was like before everything turned into sand.
When there were cities, communities and grocery stores. Now there was sand, scorching sun and more sa...
The water in the bottle was more than lukewarm and I grimaced badly at the musty taste, it had probably been forgotten for several days on the desk.
"But I still don't understand" I sighed for the third time "this is nothing like any technology I have ever seen before."
"I know" he replied amused from in my headset "why do you think I'm fucking with you."
I tilted my head back with a sigh, he had a really annoying sense of humor "You said you would help me."
"I am."
"I still think you're an AI" I countered with a grin "not a chance there are such advanced chips that are compatible with living tissue."
"You want to bet?" He snickered.
"Prove it!" I countered with a wide smile on my lips."
"Hell Lo, do you know how much I risk just talking to you instead of chatting?" He sighed defeated.
"What? You said you were alone."
He was silent for a while before he continued "alone out here yes, but there's a lot of bad people inside the cyber network."
I laughed at him "people like me."
"You tried," he snickered "but I don't think you're that dangerous."
"It's just toying with you, I'm a real killing machine."
My heart skipped a beat as he laughed at my joke "Mmmm, for sure."
I smiled big when I heard the sarcasm in his voice and was about to answer when the screen in front of me started flashing. I couldn't believe it, I had obtained his position. My eyes slid across the screen, he was quite far north. It looked like there were a lot of mountains in the area, but no direct towns or any new settlements. He had told me the truth, he really seemed to live completely alone, I thought as I zoomed in.
I suddenly felt sick in my stomach, in the beginning I had no problem playing this game, trying to fool him to get information. Carl had finally told me his plan and I had to admit that a life in Vegas sounded enticing. But the more we talked, the more remorseful I became. Twelve was a really nice guy. I needed to find out who he really was, whether I should hand him over to Carl or not. Did I really want to risk losing a potential friend?
Fuck it, I thought and turned on the camera. "See for yourself, a real killing machine" I said with a big smile straight into the camera and hoped he would open up more if he saw me.
It was completely silent, no response and no reaction. I checked the connection and I saw that he was still there.
"Okay, sorry" I finally said and leaned forward to turn off the camera "it wasn't meant to shock you or anything, I just wanted to show that you can tru.."
"Wait." With my finger on the button, I stopped and looked up to meet a pair of ice blue eyes. "Is this enough evidence?" he asked with a wide grin.
Without a word, I nodded a little embarrassed. The guy on the screen was both older and probably a lot taller and bigger than me. He looked like the type guy who would never even glance at scrawny kid like me, yet he sat there and smiled.
"Guess I'm not an AI."
"N-no" I stammered nervously.
"So" he said, leaning forward so that his face filled the entire screen "did you retrive all the information you need Lo? Or is there something more you need to know?"
"What?" I replied quickly with a hint of panic in my voice "what do you mean?"
"I'm not an idiot" he replied and smiled crookedly "who do you work for?"
- A/N-
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