W3LC0M3 70 34R7H

H3LL0?

Tap tap tap...

“I'll get you piece of...!” yelled out a voice.

A skid sound came from the two pairs of shoes when they turned a corner.

“As if!” Mason called back with a mocking laugh.

His short blondish-brown hair got into his face as he ran. He flicked them off to show his grey eyes. He was fast, strong, and had broad shoulders. 15 years of age and about 6'2. he wore an old faded out t-shirt that was a bit baggy. He wore sweat pants and faded out, but still good, sneakers that were easy and comfortable to run in.

He slipped on a puddle though.

“Gotcha scumbag!” the other boy snickered at him. Mason reached out with his hand, grabbed the first heavy thing he could find, and threw it square in the chest at the boy. The boy fell to the floor from the impact. Mason then got up quickly and ran to the next corner of the street. He turned right and saw an old unused garbage truck. He quickly ran inside it without a second thought.

“Where'd that ass go?” grumbled the other boy as he passed.

“Fuck it... Better just go.” he walked away angrily grumbling to himself.

Mason waited a few more minutes until getting out of the truck.

“Finally. Out of that smelling hell. I guess I shouldn’t go and try to steal his food next time.” he said to himself he wiped some filth off of him.

He walked home alone wet from the rain, dirty, stinky, and still quite hungry.

“Ugh...” he rubbed his stomach as it growled.

“Oh well... It's usually like this anyway.”

He looked around the streets as he walked. There were some families running around holding tightly on each others hands. A few loners gave him some glares and crazy looks. Everybody shared one thing in common though; no one was smiling. Of course not. Night was coming and that meant cold was coming also.

One couple stood near a fire place as they held a baby that looked newborn. Mason could see a few red splotches on its face here and there.

Poor them. Wonder if they'll keep it or not...” he thought.

He finally got to his house. Or, at least, his for now. Mason was one of the lucky people who got into a house without being yelled at. He usually just used it to sleep at night or hide from people. No one would dare go inside a house that might be owned by a P3R50N.

It was a house so pale you really couldn't tell what its former color was. Most of its windows were boarded up except for the ones in the room Mason slept in. He went to that room. I was at the very top of the house. Mason felt the sheets on the bed. It was soaking wet.

“Damn...” he looked up to the sky where the roof should have been,

So he just grabbed a spare sheet from under the bed and spread it onto the floor. He then laid on top of it. Mason was face up and looked at the stars above him.

“Goodnight.” he sighed as he closed his eyes.

~*~*~

Thump! CRASH!

Mason opened his eyes instantly. He got up qickly but quietly.

“What the...” he whispered to himself.

“He crept down the stairs as quietly as he could. The door was opened wide letting cold air in. He closed it slowly. He turned around to see small blood splotches on the ground.

“Oh no!... Crap.” Mason looked around but couldn't find anybody he had to fight with,

So he slowly followed the blood into the kitchen. He peeked in to see nothing inside the room.

“Really.” he grumbled t the false alarm, “Nothing's here!”

Click! “Don't move.”

Mason stood there in shock for a moment. His heart pumped quickly. He slowly turned around to see a young girl. She was a bit short- like 5'1.She had a left purple eye and a right icy blue eye; but they both carried a scared look. Her different colored hair (ranging from common dark brown to weird blue, purple, green, etc...) looked messy and seemed as if it was pulled multiple times. She also carried a few cuts on her arms, hands, legs, and her bare feet. She wore only a sheet that you would see in a hospital.Also a bit of blood (not enough to kill her) was dripping from the left side of her head.

But what really caught Mason's eyes was her neck. On it was printed something that looked like a bar code that you might see on the bottom of a can of peaches. Below it was something that looked like:

LUN4 V

“Put the gun down.” Mason said in a calm voice.

But the girl just shoo her head as she held tightly to the gun with her shaking hands.

“Damnit.”

“Please. I promise I won't hurt you.” he held one hand up and the other reached over to her.

The girl looked hesitant for a moment. Just as she was about to loosen her fingers, the door to the house banged loudly and a deep metallic voice called out.

“If you're there Vertigo, I'm going to get you for trying to run away!”

She gasped and turned the gun to that direction. Without even thinking, Mason grabbed the girl and pushed her into the non-powered fridge. He closed the door after whispering to her,

“Be as quiet as you can if you want to get away from this guy.”

He took no more than three steps toward the door when it slammed open. A air of feet covered with combat boots stepped into the house. The owner of those feet was a tall man with a shiny bald head and shining yellow eyes. He was buff and tough looking; but what would you expect from a P3R50N.

“Hello... human.”his human/robotic voice spit out that last word with a knowing disgust.

“Yes? May I help you?” Mason answered with as much hatred in his own voice, but enough politeness not to get him killed.

“I'm looking for a young girl. One with two different colored eyes and hair. And has a barcode on her neck. Have you seen her?”

“I'm very sure I have not seen this girl you're talking about.”

“Is that so? Then why are there blood spots on the ground?” the robot said as he looked around the floor.

“You tell me. I practically live on the streets and the only reason why I'm here is to sleep. I fight for food and maybe I just was too tired to clean it up when I got here! And if you weren't banging and slamming my door and interrupting my sleep, then maybe you little lady would be still in your grasp and running away from you and your filthy face and pers-”

The P3R50N grabbed onto the collar of Mason's shirt.

“Listen kid. I wouldn't go and shoot that bad mouth of yours! Unless you want to get shot with something else.”

Mason just smirked and retorted back, “I dare you to.”

The robot paused and then roughly let go of the boy's shirt while grumbling. He walked back out the door without another word and went away in his car. Mason stood there for another minute before opening the fridge door. The girl came out gasping.

“You know you didn't have to hold your breath right?” he raised an eyebrow at her.

“And for this long...”

She tried to hold the gun at him again, but she was so tired and weak she just fell to the floor and lay there unconsciously.

Mason sighed in frustration.

“Fuck my life...”