Shifted Reality Book One: Just AI

Living In The Glitch: Lisa

We were all chilling in the pool when for a second, the water froze. For a moment, it was impossible to move. When we gained the ability to move in the water again, something changed. The sounds around me turned to static. I looked to Jonathan who quickly struggled to get out of the water. Before I could do anything, Freya and Nick grabbed me from behind. Their heads and legs were juddering like they were possessed demons. Freya's arms wrapped around my throat and began pushing me under the water. I screamed as the water began going past my mouth and nose. Nick held my arms and legs still as Freya continued to push me under.

I looked to see the others trying to pull Jonathan back into the pool. He was scratching at the ground, trying to get out. Just before my head was pulled into the water, I heard the creaking of the gate to Jonathan's yard open. Someone pressed on my chest, causing air to be pushed from my lungs and water to replace it. A few more presses later, spots began to appear on my vision. Past the spots, all I could see was the constant thrashing of movement in the water. Bubbles ran out of my mouth. Suddenly there was a loud bang. The water next to me started to turn crimson. The pressure on my chest disappeared. There was another bang and the grip pushing me down was gone. Next thing I now, someone is grabbing my arm and lifting me out of the pool. I coughed and sputtered as I could finally get air in my lungs again.

The person who lifted me out of the pool laid me on my side next to the water. As I coughed up water, I glanced over to see Freya and Nick dead in the water. Jonathan was getting dragged into the water and pushed under by Luke, Carly, and Kyle. I looked over to see the person who lifted me from the water. It was a boy, he had spiky blonde hair. He was quite thin, not tall, but not short. The boy was wearing a black tank top and jeans. He held a shot gun in his hands and was aiming over at Carly. As he turned to face me, I saw his cold grey eyes and the scar on his forehead. He forced a smile then pulled the trigger on his shot gun.
My head shot towards Carly. A bullet buried deep into the back of her skull. She let go of Jonathan and sank into the pool water, dead.
"My name is Hunter, see you in hell you simulated bastards!" the boy yelled as he buried a bullet in Luke's head and chest.
I stood up tipsily and walked over to the other side of the pool and reached for Jonathan's hand. He clung to me as Kyle tried to pull him in. My gaze met with that grey eyed, blonde boy.
"Rest in pixels, dick head," he shouted before shooting Kyle in the arms and legs, then buried a bullet into Kyle's spine.

Jonathan sighed with relief and panted as he pulled himself out of the now crimson pool. He lay on the ground. I closed my eyes for a second and took a deep breath.
"Hunter....right?" I asked nervously, looking at the armed man.
He nodded and smiled slightly, his gaze never breaking with those cold, grey eyes of his. Hunter walked over to Jonathan and I.
"Are you two alright?" he questioned as he put his gun into a holster on his back.
I nodded, slightly in shock from everything that just happened.
"Thank you," I said, looking at our hero.
He grinned and pulled Jonathan up.
"We need to get you two out of here!" Hunter announced, looking around.
I cocked my head, confused.
"Listen, this world isn't real. You're being forced to stay here in a simulation. For your life that you've been in here, you've been living in the Glitch. This is not a place you want to be. In the real world, scientists are messing with and breaking your brains," he explained, brushing hair to cover the scar on his forehead.

Thinking fast, Jonathan and I decided the only way would be the motorcycle. Jonathan sat right at the front edge of the seat to drive. I sat behind Jonathan and clung to him tightly. Hunter sat behind me, taking his gun from his back and holding it in hand.
"Do you really need to wave that thing around?" Jonathan asked as he started to pull out of the driveway.
Hunter nodded.
"If anymore of those fake programmed AI try to kill us, I'm going to blow their brains out. While we're in this world, we're not safe from those pixel motherfuckers," he announced.
I bit my lip nervously, thinking everything through.

"So the only things real in this world is you, me and Jonathan?" I questioned.
A hot breeze whipped through my hair and heated my cold, wet body.
"Yeah, everything else is programmed by the system the scientists made," Hunter explained.
Jonathan rolled his eyes, trying to ignore Hunter. I thought for a moment.
"So how did you know about this place?" I asked curiously.
Hunter glanced up at me.
"I used lived in the system, just a different world. My friends, turned on me, started glitching and trying to destroy anything real in their world. Ever since then, I've been killing them. One day, I escaped. The scientists tried to put me back in, but I got a gun and shot those bastards. After a few years of being on the outside, I decided it was time to get back in and help the other experiments. Now duck!" Hunter ordered.

I watched in amazement as a bullet flew over my head and flew into the eye of a man who had been trying to pull Jonathan off the motorcycle without me noticing. Hunter might not have been my friend for long, but what he's doing, why he's here, it speaks to me. I think in the end, I want to help him. I want to blow the brains out of the people who steal lives from others and gives the stolen ones fake lives. I swear on my word, I want to put an end to this.
"You know, it's going to be a long trip to get out of here, right?" Hunter said as he fired a round of bullets into an AI that was walking towards us.