Chapter 11
Lydia
His sister, Lydia, slipped into his bedroom, not realizing Leo was home and standing behind the door.
“I told you to quit using my VR unit,” Leo said from behind her.
She jumped and let out a frightened squeak. “What are you doing here? You're supposed to be at Jason's!” She stared at him. “What's wrong with your face?”
“You should see the other guy, and fortunately for you, I need your help. I know you've used my laptop before and I've forgotten my password.”
“You forgot your own password?” she laughed. “How stupid are you?”
“I don't think you understand, Lydia. Get me into my system and I don't pound you for messing with my stuff.” He clenched his fists and gave her his best dead-eyed, I'd-kill-you-for-a-nickel, glare.
She looked at him, then at the door he stood in front of, blocking her only exit, then at him again.
He was, of course, bluffing. He wasn't going to hit his little sister, but she didn't need to know that. Her cellphone buzzed. Leo took it from her hand before she could answer, turned it off, and tossed it onto his bed, his glare not faltering as he did.
“Fine,” she said, looking away. “Your password is 'Lydia sucks one two three'. Capital L then lowercase s u x for sucks. Exclamation point after the x. Lydiasux!123-- it was easy to guess. You happy now?”
“Ecstatic,” Leo said, going over to his laptop and entering the password. Sure enough, it emitted a loud beep as it came online. “Thank you.” Odd how he'd forgotten about their sibling rivalry.
“I'm telling Mom you download porn.” Lydia grabbed her cellphone from his bed.
“Go ahead. And quit using my computer.” Leo tried to remember how he used this thing. After the apocalypse, working computers had been hard to find, and the internet, nonexistent.
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Lydia crept up behind him, punched him in the back of his head, then ran from the room.
Ow. Little brat, he thought.
He logged onto the internet and typed “Apocalypse, October 16th” into his search engine.
“Prepare for the Apocalypse! Bio-Blessed, half off! One time only!” The Apocalypse they mentioned was a Halloween party, not The Apocalypse.
“Can't fit into your Halloween costume? Bio-Blessed helps you lose pounds fast!”
The list went on and on. Nothing about the impending apocalypse and definitely nothing about how to prevent it.
He tried “Who owns Bio-Blessed?”
“Own stock in Bio-Blessed!”
“Bio-Blessed stock keeps going up!”
He eventually found a website that told him the CEO and Board of Directors of the human corporation of Bio-Blessed chose to remain anonymous due to their human security concerns.
Sadly, he couldn't learn anything more about those humans.
Asking who invented implants was even less informative. These dangerous illegal devices were believed to be an unknown tech company's prototype that got leaked to the public prematurely. Wearing one is a felony. If you know someone who's wearing an implant, you are to—blah blah blah.
So the internet was useless, at least with his limited skill with it. He was well aware that the Pre-Apocalypse internet was heavily monitored and censored. He looked through his laptop files. A folder called “math homework” contained the porn his sister mentioned. Some naked women with obviously fake breasts. He laughed. Had he been into this?
He deleted the folder with a chuckle, remembering his first time, over ten years from now in the previous future, when he'd hooked up with a woman trying to feed her family. She'd charged him two cans of beans and three cans of peaches. Worth it.
Remembering the misery and desperation of his previous life, the pictures from his old porn collection seemed stupid and superficial.
“Hey, Imp,” Leo said quietly.
“Yes, Leo?”
“Say you knew the world was going to end in a month and you were trying to stop it from happening. What would you do?”
“I'm afraid my area of expertise is limited, Leo. However, when a task is too difficult for you to manage on your own, you should never be afraid to ask for help.”
“Maybe,” Leo responded, “but ask who?”
“I'm afraid I don't know, Leo.”
So the world was about to end and he had no idea what to do about it. Leo ignored the mouth-watering smell of chicken coming from the kitchen, focusing on improving his stats.
He was shocked by how weak and clumsy his twelve-year-old body was, but he pushed himself to the limit with drills and exercises until he collapsed, gasping for breath. While he recovered from his exertions, he went through his textbooks and laptop and did what he thought might be his homework.
His clock said it was 5:15 pm when the front door opened and Dad entered the house. Leo heard him speaking to Mom. Minutes later, Dad pushed open the door to Leo's room.