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  “Why don’t you just stay here a while?” I’d asked. We’d just finished a marathon session of love-making and we were lying in bed together. It felt good to rest my head on his smooth, bare chest. The rhythm of his breathing was comforting.

  He let out a long sigh and absently stroked my hair. “There’s still a lot of work to be done, Lee. The code that Aaron gave to Yen is highly adaptive.”

  “Yeah, but the percentage of rogue simps is minimal now and everybody knows that. I never thought I’d say this, but we’re actually winning this thing! Think of it this way, there’s psycho killers among humans, and there’s nothing that can be done to stop that in advance, right? We take them down as they crop up and keep moving toward a civilized existence again.”

  “It’s not that simple, Lee.

  “Please, don’t use that phrase, Mic.”

  “Aaron integrated his own genetic coding into the herd of simps he created last year and ultimately, that’s what enabled us to take them down in such a massive number, but…”

  He paused and raked his hand through his hair. “Were seeing patterns that are very disturbing.”

  I propped myself up on my elbow. “Define disturbing, Mic.”

  “It’s degenerating.”

  “What does that mean?”

  “I don’t know…exactly, but if my calculations are right, it could mean that everything we’ve accomplished is about to unravel.”

  I landed the hovcar on the backside of Main Street and shifted to manual drive mode. The streets were quiet, but I slowed down, as I was always aware of the local kids (and a few local dogs) that liked to run and play in this area.

  I rolled to a stop as I came upon the large tent in the clearing that served as the distillery, but seeing that the flaps were tied shut, I kept driving and headed straight to Dallas’ place at the opposite end of town. I was shaken up, but my practical side reminded me that propane went quick, and I needed to grab a tank before they were gone. I also wanted to take my mind off of the fact that I’d almost gotten myself killed.

  I parked in the dirt front yard and followed a wide, gravel path lined with railroad ties around to the back of his property. Dallas used an old barn back there as the storage place for most of the goods that came in and out, and I figured he’d still be in the barn or working on something nearby. I spotted him swinging his scythe at a cluster of dried tumbleweeds. He noticed me as I rounded the corner but continued swinging.

  “Hey there, Lee. How was your trip to town?” Despite the fact that Dallas had killed one of the members of our group, he was probably one of my favorite people in town. He’d shot Ben in a split-second decision because he’d mistaken him for a simp in the midst of chaos. He still felt guilty for that, but I’d come to terms with it because I understood his reasoning. His commitment to protect his people reminded me of my own family and neighbors. He was a good man who had made a mistake, and if anyone got that, I did. His heart was always in the right place.

  “Not so good actually,” I said, taking a seat on an old whiskey barrel and helping myself to one of his cigarettes.

  “Yeah, how so?”

  “I ran into some trouble out at the airport.”

  “You really shouldn’t go there alone, you know? Why don’t you take Two or Deraline when you go out there?”

  “I don’t know, I guess I like to be alone sometimes.” He shook his head disapprovingly.

  “You’re a stubborn one, Lee.”

  “Yeah, so I’ve been told.” He grinned. “So tell me, what happened?”

  “There were three guys and they held me at gunpoint. I think they were planning to sell me for drugs.” Dallas paused to use his whet-stone on his blade as he digested what I’d just said.

  “Fucking Baggers. How the hell did you get out of that?”

  “I shot two of them.”

  “And the other one?”

  “A rogue simp snapped his neck.”

  “Did you take it out?”

  “Nah, that’s the strange part. I thought it was going to kill me next, but it didn’t even try to come after me. It just stood there on the tarmac looking up as I pulled away in the hovcar.”

  “Maybe it wasn’t rogue then.” I gave this some thought and took another hit off my cigarette.

  “It had to be. It snapped that kid’s neck like it was nothing.” Dallas scratched his scruffy chin. “Maybe you just got lucky,” he said as he stepped inside the barn to hang his tool on the wall. “I sure don’t like the idea of a rogue simp being that close by, and I like the idea of you being attacked even less. We’ll have to get a crew over there and scout it out.” He disappeared inside the barn and returned a few minutes later with a tank of propane strapped on a dolly. “Why don’t I just run this over in my truck for you? I’ll hook it up and take your empty tank back here.”

  “Yeah, that would be great. Thanks,” I said absently. I was replaying what had happened in my mind and questioning it. As far as I was concerned, all simps were dangerous. With the exception of Two and Deraline. I told myself that they were different. I’d come to trust them, and that was only because they’d earned it.

  I said my good-byes after Dallas followed me back to my place and loaded the empty tank into his truck. I gave him my word that I’d keep my head on a swivel. He was right. I’d allowed myself to get too complacent. I could have been killed back there and it would have been my own damn fault. I stood in my driveway and waved as he drove away down Main Street. Around me, the members of my little community were carrying out random acts of normality. Emma was hanging a sheet on a clothesline, her silvery braids blowing in the crisp air. Tommy was sitting on his front porch sipping from a mason jar. In the distance, a group of kids ran around between the storefronts, their unabated laughter filling me with a sense of foreboding as I stood there. I shook my head to clear the memories of the broken bodies of children strewn out on the front lawns of my old neighborhood.

  Back inside, I busied myself with washing dishes and sweeping the kitchen floor. When I’d satisfied myself with my efforts, I went next door to check in on my “sisters.” Most people in town thought of them as my sisters because Two (a.ka. Bailey) was my bio-synthetic twin, and Deraline, with her dark hair, looked like she could pass as a relative of mine. Everyone knew exactly what they were. For the most part, people had stopped concerning themselves. They’d come to accept that they weren’t a threat and they served some good. Regardless of weather, they dutifully patrolled the perimeter every night.

  That grotesquely tall simp version of Aaron was still out there somewhere, and they were committed to making sure it never came back to hurt us. Considering what I’d been through, I was thankful for that commitment. It took a long time for me to be able to sleep at night, and I’d even joined them on more than a few patrols. The results were always the same. No traces of the towering simp. Eventually, I stopped focusing on it. The nightmares dwindled away and I settled into a nice little fantasy. I should have kicked my own ass for getting so complacent.

  I didn’t knock because it wasn’t my nature. Besides, they wouldn’t be sleeping, or doing anything that might be considered private. In fact, most of the time they just sat still, staring at nothing like oversized dolls. Two told me that they used their data sensors to run digital scans on their internal systems, as well as external network searches. “It’s how we stay updated, Lee.”

  “Two, Deraline, you guys in here?” I called out. The little cabin was quiet and still. There was a narrow, wood-paneled hallway off the small living room with two bedrooms on opposite sides. I paused to adjust the thermostat because it was absolutely freezing. Since the cold didn’t affect them, they never turned on the heat unless someone was visiting. One thirty-gallon tank of propane lasted them far longer than the rest of the folks in town for obvious reasons. They didn’t get much company, aside from me.

  I pushed the door open to Deraline’s room. Taking in the neatly made bed with the pale blue comforter and the sma
ll white dresser lined with an assortment of quartz stones she’d collected in her travels, I stepped further in. There was no evidence of her presence, but something felt off. Then I spied the note beneath the largest rock. My gut tightened as I crossed the room to pick it up.

  Lee, please don’t be angry with us. It is better this way. Safer. We don’t belong with humans right now. This is for everyone’s good. Thank you for everything.

  Deraline

  Her handwriting looked like calligraphy and it occurred to me that I’d never realized she could write. I let the note slip from my hand. My “sisters” had run away from home. “Shit!” I said to no one. I questioned their actions with the mindset of a human. Had someone hurt their feelings? Made them feel less than welcome? I shook my head. I had to stop thinking of them as if they were driven by human emotions. Doing so went against everything I believed in. Regardless of the reason, I needed to get to Mic and Giz and let them know what had happened.

  Still caught up in the mundane facades of existence, I didn’t want to waste the propane. So I paused and turned the heater off before I locked up and sprinted back to my place.

  A million scenarios went through my head as I nearly tore the place upside down looking for the stupid tablet Mic had left me so that I could contact him. It had been at least a couple of weeks since I’d used it last. Where the hell had I left it? I tried to think back to where I’d seen it last. I’d been irritated with Mic and it kept flashing and buzzing with his messages that I’d refused to answer. I finally found it wedged in between my mattress and the box spring.

  I hit the power button and lit a cigarette while I waited for it to boot up. Tablets were old technology, but between Mic and Giz, they managed to use them to tap into the master network and create data paths, and whatever other voodoo programmatic shit. It seemed to take forever to make the connections, and I was about to give up when Mic’s face appeared on the small screen.

  “It’s about time!” I snapped.

  “Nice to see you too, Lee. To what do I owe the pleasure?” Was that annoyance in his voice? I didn’t give a damn if I’d interrupted his ever-so-important work. This was serious and far more important, as far as I was concerned.

  “Two and Deraline are gone. Deraline left a note saying that they don’t belong with humans and —“

  “Whoa, slow down and take a deep breath.”

  “You take a deep breath, Mic! I’m fucking freaking out here! They just took off and I don’t have a damn clue where they would have gone!”

  “Calm down. It’s going to be okay.”

  “Okay? How can you say that? I would have expected you to be a little more concerned considering how valuable you say they are to you.”

  “Have you ever stopped to consider how valuable you are to them, or to me for that matter?” Mic rolled his eyes, and appeared to be focused on something off screen out of my view.

  “What?” I demanded. He wasn’t making sense and he was seriously pissing me off. How could he be so nonchalant? We were losing precious time!

  “Do you know something I don’t, Mic?” I thought back to the expression I’d seen on Deraline’s face earlier in the morning. She looked…sad. I shifted my attention back to the tablet and the words Mic was steadily spewing.

  “If you’d check in more frequently, you’d be more aware of what’s going on, Lee.”

  “Don’t play games with me, Mic. I don’t have the damn patience for it! What’s going on? Do you know where they are?” I pulled the tablet in closer, as if getting closer to his face. He was lucky he wasn’t physically in front of me or I would have probably grabbed him by the shirt and demanded answers.

  “I sent code to them to force them both to leave Redburg immediately and come here.”

  “What? Why would you do that without telling me, Mic? If you needed them to come there, why wouldn’t you at least have me bring them or come get them yourself?”

  “Because it’s too dangerous, Lee.”

  “Mic, you’d better start making some damn sense, because I am seriously about to throw this tablet across the room and go looking for them my damn self!”

  “Lee, I’ve been trying to reach you for days now. I told you the last time I was there that we were seeing abnormal patterns. There’s been a steady uptick in random IP engagement with the mainframe here. In addition, Giz and I are seeing erratic changes in the test subjects. Behavioral shifts are normal as a simp adapts over time, but it’s more than that. Reports are coming in from everywhere that has an active uplink.”

  I felt my body stiffen. “What kind of reports, Mic?” His expression said it all. Random IP engagement…that could only mean one thing. New simps. My mind flashed back to the monstrosities I’d seen. Spider simp, and so many others mutated-humanistic monsters. Instantly, my throat went dry and my palms began to sweat. I could hardly hear him over the sound of my own heartbeat thudding in my ears.

  “Aaron is back online, Lee. I want you to pack up and come here, as soon as you can. Do you understand?” I was still staring at the floor when he asked me a second time. Then, slowly, I nodded. It took me a minute to pull myself together after he cut the transmission. It was happening again.

  Chapter 2

  It took me less than twenty minutes to pack my things, and load up the hovcar. The whole while, I was acutely aware of the fact that I was nearly out of hydro. I wouldn’t be able to make it back to Mojave, let alone the Bay area, without securing more. I also knew that I’d need to warn the others and let them know that Two and Deraline were no longer there to guard them. We’d established a system to alert the people and I was counting on that now. I slid the door closed on the hovcar and walked up the hill to Idella’s place. I needed to share the news I’d heard from Mic with her first.

  “It’s always a good idea to be prepared,” she said decisively. Ever the no-nonsense kind of woman, she rose from her rocker and pulled a shawl from a hook near the door. “Let’s get our people rounded up.” I followed her out and walked beside her in silence toward the old white church across the road. Idella moved slowly and I instinctively offered her my arm to help. She accepted and looped her arm through mine. “Did I ever tell you that my father was half I-talian?” She pronounced the “I” separately from the rest of the word. “No, I don’t think you’ve ever shared that, Idella.”

  “He sure was,” she said with a hearty laugh. “He had the strongest backbone a man could have. You remind me of him in a lot of ways.” A part of me wanted to hurry her along, but Idella hurried for no one. Everything was in her time.

  “You’re a strong woman, and I admire that. Just remember to be nice to that man of yours now and again. He’s not like you. He comes from a different kind of stock than you and I.”

  “Yeah, the annoying kind,” I muttered.

  “All men are aggravating, but that’s not the point. The question is, are they good or are they bad at their core? It’s up to us to search for their good qualities and squeeze those finer traits out of them… if they exist.” I knew she meant well, but now wasn’t exactly the time for me to take in a lesson on the proper way to build or preserve a relationship. I wanted to tell her that we wouldn’t be in the boat we were in were it not for the “qualities” of the man she was speaking of. Instead, I bit my tongue and helped her up the five cement steps to the doors of the old church. It felt like a lifetime before we were inside.

  “You do the honors, child,” she said quietly.

  I pulled the rope and rang the old church bell several times in a row. This was the alert to the community to come to the church immediately for a town meeting. We hadn’t used the system much and when we had, it wasn’t for news like this. I could count on one hand how many times we’d used it in the last year. We’d used it to share the announcement of community needs, like clearing roads after a heavy rainstorm, gathering supplies when things got lean, or helping a neighbor with a leaky roof. Having to do this made me feel horrible. I was about to rattle the founda
tion that this community had come to rely on by sharing some very bad news with these people.

  As they filed in, seeing me standing there with Idella, their mummers of speculation grew louder. Everyone knew me, and to be honest I wasn’t known to take the stage for charitable causes. Idella urged me to follow her down the narrow isle to the platform in front.

  “What’s this all about?” yelled an elderly man from the back. That was all that was needed to get the others to chime in with inquires. Idella raised her boney arms. “Everybody be quite and listen! Remember that this is a house of worship and you need to be respectful! Lee’s got some information to share with you now.” She nodded at me to proceed. I cleared my throat and took a deep breath before speaking.

  “I’ve got news to share from Mic. I know most of you won’t like this, but he says that there is a pattern that has developed.” I was using Mic’s words, and by the puzzled expressions I knew that wasn’t working. So much for being delicate. I sighed heavily. I had to do this my way, and that meant being blunt.

  “Look, I don’t know how to say this any other way. The simps are reverting.” At least half of the people in the small church were now on their feet and shouting questions at me. Naturally, some of those questions included demands for the whereabouts of the two simps that lived among them. It’s an interesting thing to see how people react to what they view as a threat. I was silently grateful to Mic in that moment for sending them away because there might have been a mob-induced lynching right there on the spot.

  “They’ve gone back to the city on Mic’s order!” I shouted back at them.

  “How do we know that’s what they’ve done? If they’re rogue, why would they listen to a human?” Sloppy Sam was loud and obnoxious. He also had a way of stirring up drama with the people. I knew his question was one that the rest of the people would latch onto quickly. The panic would spread and the witch-hunt would be on faster than they could grab their pitchforks and torches. I was sure they were far from the area by now, but the sliver of doubt made me reactive. Thinking fast, I decided a little lie wouldn’t hurt.