Negative Zero

Death, disease, hunger, and poverty could almost be smelled, hanging in the air like a foul odor. Death was one thing, but people were not really dead, they were just on the brink of it.

The streets were dirty and the buildings were broken down. Street lamps were rusted and torn apart. The crying of children could be heard, echoing eerily throughout the ghost-town. But that was all the wailing that was heard. Adults stayed emotionless with their tears all gone and a frown set on their face. Many were frail and hungry; others were weak and sick.

This was all due to the C.A.T.s. It was their fault.

I frowned at the sight as I walked around but then stopped before an old woman. She stared at me with blank eyes, but I knew she didn’t see me.
I do not exist here. This was all just a dream of mine; a simple nightmare.

--

Slowly, I opened my eyes and welcomed reality. My muscles were sore and tight due to the hard ground. Lifting my arms, I looked at my wrists and saw three tiny dots of coagulated blood.

“Hey, Nicki, you awake yet?” the high soprano voice of Cecelia Mares rang in my ears.

Cringing, I immediately swiped the ear phone away from ear, holding it an arm’s length away for a moment. My head was throbbing and I had to lower the volume a bit before bringing it back. “Nicki?” her voice still rang from it.

“Yes, I’m awake, Cecelia, what’s up?” I practically croaked the entire sentence out. Clearing my throat, I repeated it for her to understand.

“That’s good, you’ve been out of it for ten hours. Zero says that’s really bad, but Ian argued with him saying that you needed it.” She went quiet for a few moments, and I heard some other voices in the background. “Ian’s going to you, Zero and Cassie are setting up some food for you to eat; everyone else just ate.”

“So, what’s the menu for today?” I sat up, stretching and trying to relax my muscles.

“Peanut butter and jelly,” Cecelia did not seem to be happy about it.

“Something wrong,” I asked.

“I hate wheat bread,” she whined.

Laughing, I ended our transmission and tried to stand in the four foot by three feet space I had as a room. By the time Ian came crawling into the room through a little tunnel, I had folded the thin blanket and was just staring at the little dots on my wrists.

“Sup,” he grinned, lighting up his boyish face that was half covered by his blonde hair. His bright blue eyes peaked through, in between his roughly cut bangs. I stayed quiet, taking in his smile. He hadn’t smiled like that for years. It quickly disappeared, though, replaced by a frown of worry. “Are you well?”

I nodded and started to crawl behind him and into the tunnel. “I’m going to go eat, I’m hungry.” I could tell that Ian frowned behind me due to my unexcited mood. He followed behind me and the tunnel was maybe only seven feet long before it opened to a bigger room that was filled with four of my other, only other, friends. Ian didn’t count since he wasn’t in the room yet.

I was greeted warmly but Zero, of course, was angry. “You’re an idiot! If it weren’t for Ian and I, you would’ve been taken away by the G.D.s!” He ran his pale hand through his dark hair, and his dark brown eyes were full of worry. I smiled at him and then took a seat against the wall.

The night that changed our fairly okay lives was the last time I had been conscious.

The day was like every other day; normal, sunny, and digitized. I had been surfing the Network. Oh, yes, the Network; it was basically like the old 2015 and earlier system called the internet. Of course, the Network was something only C.A.T.s or other non-humans could access. Fortunately, my group had smart old Ian; the main brain of the group. He had created a small system that could allow me to access the Network.

Then, only a few minutes I had gotten off of it, the G.D.s came bursting in. At first, there was utter chaos since they were so fast and strong. Ian and Zero was able grab everyone to safety, but I pushed through them and threw myself at the G.D.s to protect Ian and Zero. The G.D.s had snapped a metal bracelet around my wrists, like handcuffs, but there were needles that were built into them to inject a paralysis into the humans. Zero had pulled out a smoke gun to distract them while Ian saved my butt.

“So,” I glanced around. “Where’s Matthew?”

“Don’t worry, he’s right here.” Cassandra Bayel assured me, holding a bundle in her arms. She handed it to me and I looked down at the round face that peaked out. Matthew’s blue eyes were large and full of secrets that he wouldn’t tell anyone. In fact, he couldn’t tell anyone since he was only six months old.

I grinned and gently stroked his cheek. “Hey, Matt, how are you?” I cooed. He smiled for a moment, still trying to learn how. None of us knew how a baby should be taught or how it learns. None of us were old enough to have gone through anything that came close to child rearing. Quickly, I looked back up at everyone. Cecelia was placing a little plate with a PB&J sandwich and a pack of milk. Her dark brown hair was tied into her usual pigtails, and she wore a wide smile. Then I looked over to Cassie. Her bright red hair fell softly around her shoulders, and her bright green eyes were beautiful. She had freckles mainly on her cheeks that were so light and small that it made it seem like she was blushing all the time.

“Nicki, why won’t you eat?” Cecelia was childish and cute. But her hazel eyes told a different story than her happy-go-lucky appearance. A very different story.

“I’ll eat, don’t worry,” I assured her. I turned to Zero and narrowed me eyes. “But first, tell me why the G.D.s was after us.”

Zero shrugged. “I can’t answer that; I don’t know why.”

“If I might step in,” Ian cleared his throat. “I found out on the Network that the G.D.s are trying to find the origin of a virus; A fatal virus that can, and will, kill C.A.T.s.”

“So they’re putting the blame on us?!” I fumed. “Are they accusing us because we’re the only humans left alive?”

“That’s not the question that should be asked here,” Cassandra put her hand on my shoulder. “The real question is; how can a simple virus kill a C.A.T.? Sure, their computer part will die, but they’re also a fourth human.”

“Twenty-seven percent human, to be exact,” Zero corrected her.
Ignoring Zero’s remark, Ian went on to answer her question. “And that’s why this virus is so special; it’s fatal and unique enough to even kill them. How it kills them though, I don’t know. Where it came from and how it was created—“

“You don’t know?” Cecelia was surprised. “But you know everything, Ian! You were born in this century!” She furrowed her eyes together and frowned.

“What year were you born again?” Lucas finally spoke up, blushing as he talked to her. His crush on her was very cute. Early teenage hormones; it was so amusing to witness!

“Nineteen-Ninety-Three,” she answered nonchalantly. Lucas counted the difference in years on his fingers, but Ian spoke up first, “She’s eighty-two years old.”

I looked over Lucas’ appearance; his awkward, skinny frame of a young adolescent with sloppy dirty blonde hair, with tired green eyes. That was when I noticed how everyone’s eyes were so tired and sad. Strange, how I now see things that I haven’t taken in before; the little details of the people that I have surrounded myself with. The room then seemed to shrink and a small realization came to me; someone in our group was not who we thought them to be. One of us was going to become a traitor—or perhaps, they already were.

“Nicki, are you okay?” Cecelia’s soft voice broke me from the grip of fear.

“Yeah, I’m… alright.” I then munched away at the sandwich, giving myself an excuse to stay quiet for a few minutes. But only a few seconds was required to think.

It was like the Last Supper of Jesus and the Twelve Apostles; with one of them—Judas—leaving to betray Jesus. Except, in this situation, the ‘Judas’ was going to betray the whole group, and not just one main person like Jesus—who was a perfect man while we were imperfect.

…but what was their reward? What could this ‘Judas’ gain from turning us in as false criminals?