Looking For What’s Real - Chapter 1

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Every Crime Requires Sacrifices

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Imagine you received an email from an anonymous man saying he can help you get back your loved ones and to meet up at 8pm in specific location if you’re interested, would you attend the meeting? Most people wouldn’t, especially those living in 2133, over the years many things went extinct. Earth isn’t the same as it was hundred years ago. Truth be told, some people do not see the difference, as most of the things have been replaced with synthetic clones, that includes 75% of trees, some animal species, grass and many, many more. Trust, however, cannot be replaced, and once it’s lost there is a long way ahead in order to rebuild it.

All in all, people of 2133 did not trust easily. And they especially did not trust an anonymous. Four people, however, were desperate enough to do just that, and so they met up under the Edwin’s Bridge, as that was the right location according to the message, at 7:50pm and waited.

A quite large, bald man with a dark, but also with a glimpse of gray, beard, was pacing around clearly irritated by the fact that he had to wait, even though it wasn’t 8pm just yet. He’s been smoking ever since he arrived, the fact that he was already at his fifth cigarette in a row apparently didn’t bother him.

In safe distance there was another man standing, significantly different than the other one. He was quite tall but also skinny, he looked as if he didn’t eat in weeks. His brunette hair was a mess, but it looked fine regardless. There were visible bags under his eyes and he, as well, was pacing. Biting at his thumb, he kept murmuring something in Spanish under his breath. Unlike the other man, this one seemed nervous rather than irritated.

Watching those two from quite some distance was a tall, well built woman with her dark hair in a high ponytail and dressed comfortably. She was leaning against the fence facing the river and watching the two men carefully, possibly out of boredom. She also was smoking, but seemed calmer than the others. That is until she, and the two men as well, heard a sound of someone running in their direction. Before the panic could arise, however, a young female appeared running down the stairs on the side of the bridge.

She was slim and had short, platinum blonde hair. She was pretty and nothing of her appearance seemed out of the ordinary.

“I’m sorry! Uh- I didn’t mean to- I have a meeting here.” She offered as an explanation as soon as she saw fear in the eyes of the others. Her arrival didn’t change anything in the scene under the bridge though. The man with a beard was still pacing around with his cigarette, the skinny brunette was still nervous as though someone was to kidnap him any second, and the dark haired woman was still calmly leaning against the fence. The only change was that now there was another person, the light haired female, who did not know what to do with herself.

Finally she decided to approach one of her companions, having quickly decided against approaching the two men, she started walking towards the other woman. As soon as she found herself standing close enough, she leaned against the fence next to her.

“Nice scar.” Was all she said to the brunette. Yes, she had a thin scar on her cheek, was it nice? It just... was. The taller woman looked at the much shorter one expecting to see something off about her, but all she saw was kindness and sympathy in her eyes and something more, something like... sadness? She decided not to pay it much thought.

“Um thanks. A souvenir from old work.”

They didn’t say anything more, there was no need for that. Both of them were too busy wondering what exactly was going on in there and if they would make out of this meeting alive.

•••

Merely ten minutes later another figure appeared out of the shadows, a man wearing a long coat was approaching the four nervous citizens pretty quickly, fixing his glasses at least three times to make sure they sat straight on his nose. Once he was standing close enough, having taken a look at the people before him, he started talking.

“Good evening, we do not have much time so I’ll try to explain everything as quickly as I can.” Receiving no verbal answer and only more curious looks instead, he decided to simply continue.

“You can call me Doctor, as I stated in a massage you received, I can and intend to help you get back your loved ones, who were wrongfully placed in the simulation by the government. I have to be honest, in order to do that we will need something that can be found in the Yellow Forest in North.” The curious looks were replaced by concern and confusion. Yellow Forest in the North was an abandoned place, no one lived there nor no one went there for any other purposes than to just see the blooming “trees” during summer. It wasn’t summer, however, and that place was most definitely without a living soul in it. Additionally, said forest was at least two weeks journey from there.

“Yes, it is quite far away. We will have to get there by foot of course. I don’t expect any trouble aside from strictly natural ones such as rivers and lakes we will have to get ed. If anyone is opposed to traveling then I advise you to leave right at this moment.” No one moved, that was a reaction the man was hoping for, he smiled and continued his one-sided conversation.

“Good. First of all I hope you understand that what we want to achieve is illegal, to avoid a situation in which one betrays the rest I put the rules in place, one of them is that we do not reveal ourselves. I’m not going to force you not to talk about your life and alike but I do advise you to avoid it. Most importantly, do not reveal your name. From now on you’re referred to by the first letter of your names, nothing less, nothing more. Understood?”

“How exactly are we going to free the people we want from the simulation?” The man with a beard asked. Truth was, everyone had the same question in mind.

“How? You will be let into the simulation itself and drag them out yourself, of course. That’s how.” The doctor explained as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. He moved then towards the wall under the bridge and pushed one of the tiles, which opened and revealed what appeared to be a little, secret storeroom. He then took out five quite large backpacks, and throw one for every other person standing there. The backpacks were quite heavy, about which the skinny man learned the hard way as he stumbled and fell upon the bag’s weight. The short and blond woman had difficult to remain standing, as she lost her balance as well but quickly recovered thanks to a hand on her back that helped her regain the balance. A hand that belonged to a dark haired woman.

“Why are you so shocked? We have an adventure and a noble goal ahead of us! We have to be prepared!” He exclaimed with definitely more enthusiasm one should have before embarking on a journey to commit a federal crime.