Waking up the following morning to an alarm ringing on the AR-CO sitting on his dresser, Aaron stretched and yawned before getting up and shutting off the alarm. He reattached the device to his wrist and walked to the kitchen. Once again, he forced down a nutrient bar while planning out his day.
A few minutes later, he felt his mind finally kicking into gear. He dressed himself with shorts and a sweatshirt and left his shack for a short jog. Outside, the sky remained dark with only hints of yellow sunlight on the horizon beyond the perimeter wall.
Noting the lack of pedestrians or passing vehicles, he jogged along the sidewalk for five kilometers towards the nicer areas of Novelyn. Along the way, he recorded the locations of places of interest like grocery stores, general stores, and a library that doubled as a bookstore. As the minutes passed, the sun rose into the sky and graced Novelyn with its warmth.
When Aaron reached the five kilometer mark, he turned back. Surprised by the energy pulsing in his new body, he decided to pick up the pace for the return trip. He returned to his shack while trekking at a brisk pace. By the time he reached the door, sweat soaked his clothes, but to his surprise, his breathing remained stable the whole time.
Before anything else, he sat down at the small table near the kitchen and gulped down a liter of water. Halfway through, he started to feel his muscles itch, and his right leg bounced up and down almost uncontrollably. Confused by the unfamiliar sensation, it took him a while to figure out what was happening.
“Past me must have been an exercise addict.”
With a sigh, he set aside the water thermos and searched for a recommended training regime for preteens and teenagers on his AR-CO, but he decided to limit the recommended number of sets and reps until he was confident that his body wouldn’t face side effects from getting hit by a car. Aaron jotted down a revised workout plan on a notepad app on his AR-CO and then lifted weights for about an hour. After lifting weights, he went to his backyard and ran suicide sprints in the small area for another few minutes. He also practiced basic punches and kicks.
By the end, Aaron’s body felt like a sack of jelly potatoes. He laid on the ground panting for a few minutes before he could gather the strength to stand again. While stumbling toward his back door, he noticed some plywood sheets leaning against the back wall of his shack under a small awning.
Raising a brow, he thought, I could use those as bulletin boards to organize my plans and knowledge.
Too worn out to do anything with the plywood sheets for now, he entered his shack and showered under a stream of cold water in the cramped bathroom. He grumbled about the lack of hot water in the shack the entire time.
Later that day, Aaron briefly visited the general store and bookstore he had passed during his run despite his now sore legs. The sleek design complete with runic engravings and neon blue lights within the stores alongside the meticulously detailed organization of items for sale caught him off guard since he had never bothered to write about such things in his story, but he quickly adjusted and purchased everything he needed to start organizing his plans.
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Sweat drenched Aaron’s sweatpants and t-shirt. A sharp breath escaped his lungs through his mouth as he lifted a barbell with a few full plates on each side. Then, while lowering the bar, he breathed in through his nose. He bench pressed the bar a few more times before resting it on the rack.
Sitting up from his bench, he grabbed his liter thermos from a chair nearby and gulped down several helpings of water. Mid-gulp, he glanced over at two large pieces of plywood leaning against a wall adjacent to his sleeping area. One of the boards was covered in handwritten notes, pictures, newspaper clippings, and even some hand-drawn sketches of notable locations, events, or characters from his story. The second board contained detailed notes about the Hive, a large map of Novelyn, and pictures or sketches of local criminals. Color-coded arrows connected the images to each other signifying their relationships or rivalries that he could recall from his old notes.
While waiting for a full minute to pass before his next set, his eyes scanned over everything he had gathered over the past week. Every image, document, and clipping was stored as an image on his AR-CO, but nailing everything to a physical board like he used to do as an author helped him calm his nerves while adjusting to this new setting. Although he had decided to enter the Hive for combat training, he still hadn’t figured out what actions he wanted to take in order to help his characters in their growth.
The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.
“Well, I need to get stronger than them first, or at least on par with them,” Aaron grumbled while running a sweaty hand through his damp hair. Then, he grinned like a father thinking about his successful children and added, “I hope I can catch up to those monsters.”
The moment he laid down on the bench again, knocking on his front door interrupted him. His lips immediately curled downward. He considered ignoring it, but whoever was outside knocked again moments later, but harder and longer.
Sighing, Aaron got up from the bench and first hid the plywood boards behind his dresser before walking to the door where the visitor was knocking again for a third time. Rather than opening the door, he slid open a small rectangular viewing hatch on the door that allowed him to see three men dressed in dark hooded clothing. He couldn’t see the two in the back very well because of the man in front standing close to the door and staring directly back at him with large brown eyes. The man’s brows were wrinkled with irritation. He also looked relatively young, perhaps in his early-twenties. Stubble on his jaw seemed to be an attempt at compensating for his youth. A long scar on the left side of the man’s face also captured Aaron’s attention.
“Can I help you?” Aaron sharply asked.
“Hey, Aaron. Open the door, or I’ll open it for you.”
Aaron sighed and then replied, “Do I know you?”
“Hah! Looks like somebody grew some balls after some time off, huh?”
“If I knew you before, I don’t anymore. Got hit by a car and got amnesia. So, who are you?”
“Nice try, Aaron. Thought you could break your AR-CO and hide after your accident? I’ll give you three seconds to open the door, or I’ll break it down and drag you to the boss.”
“Are you serious, man? I really don’t remember anyone, and if I wanted to hide from someone, I wouldn’t go to my house. If you’re too dumb to understand human language, then just get off my lawn already.”
The man blinked in surprise at Aaron’s reply. Then he shook his head and said, “You definitely wouldn’t have spoken to me like that in the past. Did you actually lose your memory?”
“Yes. Now, what do you want?”
“Huh. Maybe you’ll get off without losing a finger, then. Get out of there and come with me if you want to avoid angering the boss.”
Aaron’s eyes narrowed as he suddenly recalled the notable amount of credits that were in his account before. Wondering if the money was connected to these men, he asked, “Did I work with you before my accident or something?”
Raising a brow, the man answered, “Work with? Something like that. Just get out here, dude.”
Again, Aaron sighed. Then, he scratched his head and said, “I was in the middle of a workout. I’ll shower first and then meet you outside.”
“Not gonna let us in?”
“I don’t like strangers, so no.”
“Well, I guess that part of you is still the same,” The man grumbled while rolling his eyes. Then he said, “We’ll give you five minutes. Get inside the back seat of the Bluebird out front when you’re done.”
“Is that a car?”
“...Yeah.”
“Fine. I’ll see you in five,” Aaron grumbled while closing the viewing hatch.
Outside, the three men walked back to their vehicle. One of the two who hadn’t spoken yet looked at the man with the scar and asked, “Do you think he really got amnesia, Joren?”
“Maybe. Either that, or he grew a massive ballsack in three weeks,” Joren said while walking toward the sports car out front. He then pulled out a box of cigarettes and gave one to each of the others before lighting one for himself with a small flame sparking from his finger.
Less than five minutes later, Aaron left his shack wearing jeans, a hoodie, gloves, and running shoes. Every article of clothing looked brand new, but all of them had unfamiliar brand labels, not that any of the punks nor Aaron cared about such things.
Arriving at the blue sports car that looked like a 1970’s Mustang on steroids merged with a 1950’s Thunderbird, Aaron furrowed his brows and sighed before opening the back door facing the sidewalk and sat in the back seat next to one of the guys he had not gotten a good look at earlier. The acrid stench of cigarettes made Aaron’s nose wrinkle.
Glancing at the guy next to him out of curiosity, Aaron made a mental note to remember his face even though he looked rather unremarkable with messy black hair and dim dark brown eyes that made him look like he had given up on life. His build was acceptably fit in contrast to most of Aaron’s underfed neighbors, though. The other guy in front had a similar appearance, but with the addition of a bionic patch integrated over his left eye. A few wires and a small tube attached to it curved around his head and under the skin of his scalp. Aaron assumed they could be brothers, or even twins, based on their familial resemblance.
First bionic attachment I’ve seen so far, Aaron noted while trying not to stare at it for too long since it made his skin crawl.
Without saying anything, the man with the scar on his face started the car and sped ahead of a car driving on the road behind them. A car horn honked behind them, but the three men ignored it. Aaron turned around with an apologetic glance, but otherwise chose not to dwell on it.
Glancing up at Aaron in the rear-view mirror, the man with the scar said, “Prepare yourself, Aaron. You’ll probably have some trouble with the boss before you can explain anything to him.”
Frowning, Aaron nodded and leaned back into his seat with closed eyes while hoping he could end this farce as quickly as possible and get back to learning, planning, and training.