I have made my choice. That's why I am still here, standing with these trees. I run my hand over my burned body. Waiting. The sun shines bright and happy in the sky, unaware of what's about to happen to me. Unaware of what I have done and will soon suffer the consequences for. Unconcerned.
Philip and Carl appeared. Both appeared in each of my sides, a few feet away from me.
"What is wrong with you?" both shouted.
"I'm..." Fear pumps through my veins like adrenaline and blood.
"Why is your suit off? You look horrible." Philip's suit flashes as the digital virus tries to cripple it.
"I took it off," I snap. "This is wrong! Wake up!"
Carl chuckles. "And what is wrong about it? We have everything we want."
"Stealing from people is not what I made these for! I made them to help us give! Remember??"
Both looked at me as if I am crazy. The suit has made them forget. Tricky, tricky things, these suits.
"Put it back on," Carl says, pointing his chapped nail at me.
"No," I say. "It has made us cruel warlocks. Look at you!"
Philip appears behind me. He is in no mood for words. His suit flashes. The virus is not working. When you mix magic with technology, you give up control. You are at the will of something far beyond yourself. I am done for.
See how it all ends? Or does it begin? I am watching them approach me now. I tell you while my life hangs on its last thread. I am putting my suit on. It is so hot. I should have paid more attention to the cooling system when I made these. I hear the heartbeat of everyone around me now, including the irregular rhythm of Carl's and Philip's. But oh, the power. It rushes into me like a drug down the throat of an addict.
Both bare their teeth. They are indeed sharp like those of a bloodsucker. The virus is working through their suits now. But something has gone very wrong. They are both smiling. For a year, we have been psychic vampires but now as they come at me, mouths open, teeth sharp, I see that they have become the blood-sucking kind.
I feel my own teeth sharpening too as I prepare to defend myself. This is new but I can't think about that right now. I tore the suit off and throw it aside.
"Come then!" I shout. Then, they striked...
