Winter has come again and the first snow has fallen.

In addition to three assault rifles and a pistol, Sam also found a certain amount of money.

Thus, he now did not have to visit old Frank, but he still decided that they should see each other.

Frank loved various conspiracy theories and often spoke nonsense. However, he also told him the latest news if something interesting happened in the world.

He also had his own game on his phone. In this game you created a character and he received certain characteristics, for example Strong, Lazy, Cautious and many others. There could be very few of them or a lot. They could be positive or negative.

The paradox is that you could not control the character, the only influence from the player was to give several general commands. For example, just wander, become a knight, open a dumpling shop, and so on.

There were thousands of different types of these orders can be given but you could only choose one order for a certain period of time. And depending on your character he could even somewhat ignore it.

So the character went out into the world and lived his life and everything. The player could only watch the process.

The game followed the time frame of the real world and even if you closed the game, it continued on its own.

All the character's encounters and experiences influenced him in one way or another affected him. Sometimes for the better sometimes for the worse.

Therefore, when two characters from different players met, it was difficult to say who would win if they entered into a fight, there were too many variables. The fights were very colorful and varied, because they were generated automatically and the player could not interfere.

Sometimes you go into the game and your character is already dead.

A kind of Tamagotchi in a serious manner.

Of course, such a game could not become too popular, but it gained its niche among users despite the extremely limited gaming interface, and Frank was one of them.

Sam usually had a hard time putting up with Frank's nonsense about the flat earth and the lizardman invasion for too long. The stories about his character’s adventures seemed the same.

But considering that they really hadn’t seen each other for a long time, he was ready to listen and probably even felt a little anticipation. Is his character still alive?

This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

However, when Sam arrived at his garage, he saw no signs that anyone had been here recently.

The workshop was closed and he didn’t even find any traces in the snow nearby.

He knew Frank enough to understand that he would hardly have left for long on his own accord.

But the old man was definitely about 60 years old or more and he looked accordingly. Are old people really being drafted into the army now? This was quite possible.

Everyone was sent there, no matter if you were blind or deaf, disabled or a drug addict. They took everyone indiscriminately.

Sam led a lonely life for a long time, even when he had his own house. He got used to it and didn't feel any problem with it.

Still, he sighed slightly in frustration. Nevertheless, he could hardly help himself; the thought of helping someone else did not even occur to him.

He went to the city, bought what he needed and went back home.

On the way back the snow got heavier. Sam was returning to the wasteland to his small bungalow while catching falling snowflakes with his right hand.

Suddenly one of the snowflakes changed its trajectory and landed on his hand.

Sam raised his eyebrows and stopped, most likely it was an accident, but it looked unnatural.

He focused his attention on another snowflake flying past and again it changed its trajectory and settled in the middle of his palm.

- Interesting.

After playing around a bit, he resumed his steps again, continuing to influence the trajectory of the snowflakes around him. But this only worked with one single snowflake at a time.

Nevertheless, it was an interesting new game.

At first he thought it was something like telepathy, but after doing a couple of tests he realized that it was more likely a matter of water.

The weight of the snowflake was insignificant and, due to the presence of water in it, he could influence its trajectory.

With water itself, even if it was a small drop it was much more difficult. It was only possible to slightly influence the drop of water.

Nevertheless, the very fact of what was happening was shocking. He doubted that he could have missed something like this after living for so many years, which means these changes happened recently.

Now he regretted even more that he didn’t find Frank because he didn’t even had a phone. He simply didn't need it. Or at least such was his excuse.

Various theories of the apocalypse began to pop into his head. Why did such happiness suddenly fall on his head? He can't be the only one like that, can he?

While in the city, he did not notice anything unusual. Yes, there were terribly few people outside, but this was rather the norm given the circumstances.

At first he suspected a pulse. Since the mechanism of its operation was unknown to him and there was an almost invisible hole on the back of the watch. Perhaps body statistics were collected using nanorobots or something.

Then he remembered this suspicious pool with dark, stinking water where he dumped the corpses. Although he couldn’t even think of any specific suspicions about this place.

And finally, one more interesting fact. Since he became homeless and began living in the wasteland, his life has changed slightly. In particular, he literally stopped washing himself.

Frank was not so kind as to invite him to take a bath, and Sam himself was not eager to impose himself.

Over the years, he simply got used to it and began to ignore this problem.