Chapter 7
Walking down the street deeper into the slums as the walls came closer and closer for once the number of people didn’t go up, but it did get darker. There was no one here and the lights were out everywhere, just the small glass lines of luminescent algae traced the streets. I still remember how proud everyone was when we got those in case power failed to give light and increase air quality, never thought they’d actually be of use. The only other part of note were some odd ashy black marks that occasionally appeared on the sides of the streets. Turning one last corner a deadend was there with a door in the center, home. Though of course it was a little dingy, there was no way it wouldn’t be, it was always kept as best it could be. Ma always said you need to be frugal but never live poor, that if you live in dirt and have holes in your clothes that means you’ll live and think poor. Walking in it was all the same, like time was frozen these past few days, only with it being a little more humid with the AC she had slaved for unable to get power.
Sitting down at the little dinner table I set aside my axe and the yewtalon idol which, even without the feeling of being watched, I put on the farthest side of the table. Taking out some food from the fridge, after making sure none of it went bad with the loss of power, and for the first time in too many days I ate normal food and drank what I could be sure was water. In this dark room I sat, ate, and pretended it was just one of those days when we cut most of the power to save for rent. Only a small handmade algae lamp gave a little light, I was proud of that lamp. When I was little and they were putting down those algae lines I managed to take some from a leak early on, oh were they pissed. I still remember the NewLight men in their white suits coming down “NewLight property” this and “genetic copyright” that. They never found it though. That idiot Leo wanted to do the same, had to save his ass cause they had added trackers into it after me.
Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.
Soon enough with the meal done, I wanted to go out and look for anyone but, I went to my room with the algae lamp and went to sleep in my own bed. I knew this was likely to be my last time sleeping in my own bed so I tried to enjoy it even as the streets filled with sound. Scratched and creaks, clicks and clacks, none of them human, seemed to walk down the streets. Maneuvering my dresser in my small room I put it up against the door and laid back down. I was going to enjoy this normal night, tomorrow I can fall back into the madness of this new world.
Only one image stuck in my mind as sleep slowly overwhelmed the sounds, the stars glittering in the endless sea of the sky.