Chapter 2 - Multiple Surprises

Another day of trudging along in the fiery depths of hell that is my job. I began to wish that there was an easier way of making money. I'd heard that there were some people who played Aeon and sold stuff in it for real money. Now THAT would be my dream job.

Once I clocked out, I walked home at a leisurely pace, thinking to myself about all of the possibilities I could capitalize on if I were to play Aeon. “I could get a house with a view and with more than 3 rooms” was my immediate thought. As my mind wandered, I didn't pay attention to where I was walking and ran right into the forest fence. Because I touched the fence, a nearby security robot spotted me and started approaching. I quickly fled the area, hoping that it wasn't able to take a picture of my face.

After that embarrassing incident, I made it home, only to hear whooping coughs coming from Grandpa’s room. I stopped, startled at the new development. I had never heard him cough this badly before. I then rushed into his room like a madman only to see many bloodstains covering the bed sheet.

“Grandpa!” I exclaimed as I rushed to his side. There was so much blood, I wasn't able to think straight as I looked at it all.

“Damn, you came home while this happened huh…” Grandpa wheezed.

“What do you mean ‘while this happened’ Grandpa? This has happened before!?” I was incredulous, things were happening much too fast for me to take in at once. “You seemed fine just yesterday though.” After I thought that, I remembered his pills. I ran into the kitchen where we kept them, I noticed we only had one pill left. Once I sprinted back, I made Grandpa take the single pill left.

“Boy, stop crying. Now shut up and listen closely, I have lived a very long life and I am coming to terms with it. There is no need to be sad for me, I will finally be able to see my wife again soon. Anyways, I have kept an inheritance hidden from you for the past 20 years. I put all of the money I saved up from my entire lifetime into that box. Sadly, with how our funds have been dwindling along with my health, I've not been able to go and retrieve it. John, fetch me pen and paper quickly, I'm going to draw you a map of where I left it.”

I went and got the requested items and handed them to him with shaking hands. Grandpa Haze quickly sketched out a crude map before he lapsed into a fit of coughs again. I rubbed his back to try and alleviate a little of his pain as he handed me the map he drew. The map was written in a classic style with a big X-marks-the-spot on it, along with a bloodstained corner from Grandpa’s coughing.

“I want you to go and get that box right now.” Grandpa ordered.

Feeling reluctant to leave him alone, I left the house to search for the box. On my way out, I grabbed a dark hoodie to keep myself warm. I had learned basic orienteering from Grandpa long ago, yet I hadn't used it once since he taught me. It took me a while, but I managed to find North and headed out to find it.

When I was walking home, I noticed the air was a tad cold, but now, the air felt like it was covering me with Death’s cold embrace. I tried rubbing my arms to warm myself up but that didn't help. While trudging through the cold city, map in hand, I made it to one of the features Grandpa drew on the map. It turned out to be the fence next to my work. Usually, the sight of the forest behind the fence filled me with a sense of mystery, but, at this moment, I only felt dread.

“How in the hell am I going to get through this fence,” I muttered to myself. “Actually, it's not only the fence… It's our robots too, great…” As I griped about how unfair life was, I put my hands in the links of the spotlessly maintained fence and started to climb. Thankfully there were no security robots around at the time I was climbing up, so I knew that I had to hurry because I wouldn't get many chances like this. The thought of my grandpa in his bloodstained bed also pushed me up and over the fence.

I finally got to the apex of the fence and started my descent. Unfortunately, one of my feet missed a link and I fell 13 feet to the dirt. I let out an involuntary cry of pain as I landed on my back. After realizing the shrill sound I just made, I knew that I had to get up and move away from the area because the robots would have almost assuredly heard the sound.

I got up and moved as quickly as my back would let me and dove into the bushes. Just at that moment, 7 robots gathered around where I fell looking for the intruder. I didn't realize when I saw the drone in the morning, but it turns out the robots are some of our cheaper models without any thermal imaging cameras. Looking at how close I came to being caught, a hot stream of sweat started rolling down my face, one of the few warm things I could still feel on this night.

5 minutes later, the robots dispersed, maybe to go back to their routes, or maybe to search for places I might have gone. Regardless, I had to keep moving. I take my crumpled up map out of my pocket and study it once again. The X looked to be about ¼ of a mile into the forest. After finding north again, I started moving as silently as I could.

Four minutes after I started trekking deeper into the forest I ran into another patrol. I quickly tried to make myself as flat as possible in the hopes that the robot would pass me by. As an added measure I piled some dirt and leaves onto myself as a sort of camouflage. The robot however wasn't easily fooled. It glanced at me and begun to move closer to inspect. Cold sweat broke out everywhere on my body and I began thinking that I'd have to spend the rest of my life in jail for trespassing on private forest land. As a last ditch effort, I slowly smeared my face with the dirt, grabbed a twig about the size of my thumb and waited for its approach.

When it got within a foot of where I was laying, I pounced on it. Thanks to my monotonous crafting of these damned sentries, I knew exactly where I would need to strike to stop its functions. The robots appendages rose in an attempt to grab my arms, but the robot didn't expect me to duck under it and get behind it. I jammed the stick into the exact gear that I pound into place every weekday that controls the movements of the torso and arms. After that, I just kicked it over and straddled the machine. I ripped of its plate cover from behind and tore through its innards like a vulture.

Losing myself in the destruction, I failed to notice that I was once again making a ruckus. I snapped out of it quickly after I heard the latest gear I threw out of the already destroyed machine, clang when it connected with a previously thrown out gear. Scared that I just made my jail sentence worse, I sprinted away.

Eventually, I made it to the spot where my inheritance was supposed to be buried. In another stroke of misfortune, the spot was along a well-traveled path that the sentries took. The ground was hard and difficult to dig into with my bare hands. Gritting my teeth and thinking of Grandpa’s miserable form, I pushed on. My nails became dirty and bloodied, my hands ached miserably as I dug for what felt like an eternity, yet only turned out to be about 10 minutes. This time I was vigilant and managed to notice the robot coming before it had a chance to see me. I quickly maneuvered myself behind a tree and waited for the guard to pass.

The guard went over my hole had dug without even noticing the change. When it went out of sight it let out a breath I didn't even realize that I had been holding. I resumed digging and finally found the box. Lifting it out of the hole, it looked like it was about the size of a shoebox but had been crumpled by the weight of the passing guards. As I looked at the hole again, it turned out there were two more shoe boxes underneath that one. I took out all three and opened them.

END

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Haze

Haze, you're evil.

Love

Omni