Street lights flicker as I run past a section of the city that feels abandoned. Occasionally a vehicle zooms past heading towards the main the terminal. On my interface, the map shows I'm getting closer to Galivar's but it's still at least another two streets down.

As I look at the map, I notice a red line and see the zone where Gavilar’s shop is located is within a red zone. Nearly tripping over my own two feet I stop and expand the map.

What the...!

With the mission information up I look for a difficulty level and see nothing. The reward is pretty miserable so why would the shop be located in a red zone? What is the red zone?

Another hover car zooms past me as consider my options, then I hear the whirring of it’s engines slow and stop. I look up and see it start turning around and heading back towards me.

The lights are blinding as it picks up speed and I panic. Running to the side, I get out of the way as it climbs on to the sidewalk.

Pistol out I tap the plate under my chin and a glimmer goes up around me as I get behind a walk.

“This nook scratched our Tei! Time to scrape their face off!”

Laughter and whoops come out of the car and bit of brick and metal chip away from the wall. Bullets?

“Head to the left, we’ll flank him.” I hear Tei’s voice.

“It’s six of us against one, do we really...”

“You talking back?”

“Sorry, we’re on it.”

The barrage lets up for a moment and I step out shooting in the direction of the voices.

My first shot goes wide, but the second shot lands. The tall henchman I hit, has a massive Mohawk with green spikes. As the shot lands, a bright red glow shows up on their chest and they freeze in place. Blue and white radiates from under their clothes, then covers their exposed skin. Without a sound, they vanish into voxels and their equipment falls to the ground.

“Dagon!” Calls out a the woman next to him.

More shots come from the others and my shoulder kicks out spinning me back behind the wall. Looking down I see the shield’s glimmer brighten over my shoulder, then dim all around me. Many more of those hits and this shield is going down.

Nine shots are left on my pistol at this point. Rolling my eyes at myself for not buying more energy clips.

“That pistol’s probably Pre-Collapse, it’ll rip through our shields so don’t get hit!” Tei calls out.

“Are you kidding? You brought us here to take on an ancient?”

“I didn’t think they’d be an ancient when they ran away earlier.”

“Dagon died because of you!”

The voice of the woman trembles as she yells at Tei. My hands shake. Why are the NPCs so real? They obviously aren’t people if they vanish into voxels, but the way they’re talking gives me pause.

The alley way that I’m hiding in leads to a larger alley behind the buildings. Either I kill all of these NPCs or I make a run for it. It might be a game to me, but since spending time with Beatrice, they feel more and more like people than 1s and 0s.

“HE killed Dagon not me. Take it out on him.”

Booted footsteps sound out behind me as I sprint down the alley.

Running in an S as much as possible I hear shots from the woman behind me and I see a second shot glance my shoulder. I turn and fire but miss. 8 more shots.

Bursting out of end of the alley I get slammed by an explosion that throws me into a garbage bin.

Thankful for the shock absorption, I’m able to take the hit without losing consciousness. However, my shield couldn’t handle anymore and winks out.

My heart pounds in my chest and my breathes get shallower as I scramble around to the other side of the bin firing two more random shots down the alley. 6 more shots left.

“Ah!” I hear something scream.

“Grim!”

“I’m alright, just clipped my shoulder.”

“Did he rip through your shield already?”

“What the ash is that weapon?”

“Let’s take it from him and find out!”

Click. Thwomp. Another rocket is heading towards me and I can’t take the impact if it lands so I run with all my might.

Boom. The impact is further behind me this time, but I still stumble from the force.

I fire another three random shots out this time. A few feet away I see the street and try to double time it. My legs give way and I fall flat.

“He’s down!”

“Get him!”

“For Dagon!”

Pulling my pistol around I see the group running at me and fire. Miss.

Fire. Hit! I see voxels and hear clattering. Pain bursts from my left arm as I fire again. This time they scatter and take cover.

Getting to my feet I walk around the corner getting another shot off down the alley hitting a wall.

Trying to give myself some cover fire I pull the trigger and nothing happens. The energy cell is out. Another barrage of bullets chips away at the corner of wall I hiding behind.

Shoving the pistol back into it’s holder, I unfold the bow and load a capsule. I pull back on the line and wait for a lull in their shooting. Brick stops flying for a moment so I spin around the corner I let loose an arrow and then duck back. An explosion at least five times bigger than the ones from before rips through the alley knocking me down.

A cloud of dust and debris bursts from the alley followed by sounds of bricks and metal clattering to the ground.

Panting I lay my head on the ground and close my eyes.

Sirens sound from up the street and the buildings I thought were abandoned start to spew more and more people.

“What the ash was that!?”

“Did a bomb go off?”

“Are those gangs at it again?”

“Weren’t they supposed to stop all those maniacs with the patrols?”

“Who’s that on the ground?”

“Are they dead?”

“Maybe they’re hurt.”

“It’s probably one of the goons from those gangs!”

“Maybe they set off the explosion!”

“What!?”

That was my queue. I check my Endurance gauge before getting up this time and see it’s climbed at least a bit. Hopefully enough to get out of here.

Getting up I run down the street past a group of confused people.

“They’re getting away!”

“Get the patrols!”

“Where’d they go?”

A building ahead shimmers in the corner of my vision. When I look closer I see the door is pulsing with a blue glow. The sign above it reads, “Gavilar’s”.

That means.

I check the map and sure enough. I’m in the Red Zone.

Slamming the door, I turn and take in the room. It takes me a good few seconds to figure out what I’m even looking at. Workbenches with half finished weapon parts, pistols, gloves, and even a mini copper distilling kit. Along the walls are tools, diagrams, and one especially elaborate cat clock.

A python of cables snake throughout the room and a good portion lead to a corner where at least six monitors are showing diagrams and statistics. Another set of the cables lead to a back room, and the rest run to a loft area accessible through a ladder.

“Ashen slugs! Who’s out there?” Calls out a voice from the back.

My breathes come out in trembling fits and I can see my Endurance is just a sliver. There is no way I’ll be able to show down with the voice and the angry mob outside. Collapsing my bow I holster it and just hope I can talk my way out of this.

“Slammin’ my door like that. You’ve any idea how rude that is? I’ll say.” A girl comes out from the back wearing a dark grey tank top and blue overalls with only one side clipped. An orange belt wraps her waist and from it hang various tools. Her powder blue hair is in a pony tail and bangs hang down over her eyes. Two little metal nubs stick at the top of her head like antennas.

“You’ve anythin’ to say for yourself?” She says shaking a rag at me.

“There’s a mob after me.”

“Get outta my shop then!”

“No, please, I need help. Leandra sent me.”

“Leandra?”

“Shop keeper at the terminal?”

“Lea Lea sent you?” She looks me up and down with grimace.

“Yes, I promise.”

“Then what you slammin’ my door for?”

“I can’t really explain it right now, I need you to hide me.”

Green eyes dig into me and I watch my Endurance meter slowly climb.

“Fine, head upstairs, I’ll get the crowd movin’ along.”

“Thank you!”

Upstairs I find a small bed and desk that’s just as cluttered as the downstairs shelves and counters. In the far corner I see a metal pad taking in several cables from the python of wires and next to it another wall of monitors. I duck down behind the bed and wait.

Below the door slams open.

“Where are they!” Comes a gruff voice, echoed by muffled shouts outside.

“What’re you talkin’ about?”

“That thug who ran in here.”

“There’s no thugs in here.”

“Are you hiding him Jamie?”

“What did I tell you about calling Jamie, Duncan?”

The crowd outside quiets down.

“Sorry.” The gruff voice replies through gritted teeth.

“There’s no thugs in my shop, so you best keep lookin.”

“You’re father was a pillar of this community. He wouldn’t hide a destructive menace if he were here.”

“Thanks for the kind reminder that he’s not around anymore. Not get.”

Around me the computers whir.

“Let’s go.”

Outside the muttering started back up and after a moment, the door shut cutting off the sounds of their voices.

For a long moment all I hear is the whirring and now the cat clock ticking.

“You still up there?” The girl calls out.

“Yea.” I reply.

“Alright, come on down then.”

The steps creak as I walk down.

“Eden.” The girl calls out.

“Yes, Janelle.” Eden’s voices comes from a speaker near the back door.

“Disable his weapons.”

“Confirmed, weapons disabled.”

“Eden?” I call out.

“Yes, Carrots.”

“Enable my weapons.”

“I am unable to do that.”

“What in ashes remembrance is goin’ on here?!” Janelle’s eyes are wide open as they dart between me and the speaker. “Eden knows you!?”

“Yes, Janelle. I am familiar with Carrots.”

“What? how?” Janelle’s glares at me with a finger raised to my face as she walks up to me. “Who are you, you best start explaining yourself!”

This is uncomfortably familiar. At least she’s not holding a rifle.

“I’m just me.” I reply.

“Eden, is this person an administrator?” Janelle asks without breaking eye contact with me.

“No.”

“What level of access do they have?”

“Currently, Carrots Field is at authorization level 4.”

“Ashes, that’s high.” Her eyes start to drift away as she holds her chin. “What interface is he using?”

“Carrots has a fully integrated neural link running version 13.4.2.134.”

“Whoa!” She runs up the stairs and I hear her plop down at the desk I’d seen earlier. “Can you use his interface to upgrade yourself?”

“Yes.”

“Do it!”

“What’s going on here?” I exclaim as I climb back up the stairs.

“Commencing upgrade.”

A rush of blood goes to my head and I black out just as I reach the top step.