Day 128 Writing Short Stories

Maze

Someone had turned the city into a maze. One where you needed to know where you were going, or you would get lost and be sold for parts. He had always been bad with directions, getting lost even in his one-room apartment. That was why he rarely ventured out. He hated the streets. They were noisy, dirty, and full of smells attacking him all at once, and he never knew where he was without his module.

He used his module to guide him into the maze of buildings. Without it, he would be a dead man walking. He was a dead man if he didn’t deliver the program burning inside his pocket. He ducked under the sign, which promised a third bowl of rice and pork for free. The sign flickered, casting neon colors into the puddles. It had rained this morning, and hard.

The module guided him under the lines zigzagging down the tall buildings. Some were cables, people spreading electricity and the net to those who couldn’t afford it. Some were clothing lines, clothes hanging from them like little flags of the occupiers. Others were ropes to move goods up and down the buildings.

He licked his lips, tasting the soda he had drunk before heading to the streets. It tasted salty, sweet, and acidic. He cursed his own luck. His plan had been to fly under everyone’s radar, hack into the government modules, secure a hefty sum under his name, and get out of this rat-forgotten city, but he had gotten caught. Not by law enforcement, but by the worst guy he could imagine. The one who ran the maze-like city with his fists and brutes.

They had asked him to build a program that could spy on people. Tell where they went, what they did, all of it. Something that shouldn’t exist, yet everyone knew that the government and the private companies used it. It was an easy program to write. Nothing major, but he was pretty sure that it wouldn’t be the end of the requests. He wasn’t stupid, and working for men who used other men to beat others to death wasn’t a good idea. Men who wanted to get out of the maze and sit at the top. That much he understood about his new benefactor, as the man had insisted on being called.

He sighed. For now, he would play ball. He had no other choice.

—

Today, the random number generator gods gave me something close to what I got yesterday. The only modification was that action became science fiction. Otherwise, I got comic quest written in the first person just like yesterday. So I took liberties. I skipped the comic aspect and the first-person narrative and went with a more serious tone instead. I wanted to give you a proper ending, but today’s time limit didn’t let me. I have to leave for work soon.

Thank you for reading! Have an inventive day, and see you tomorrow ❤