The Next Life - Part 1

The Next Life: Chapter 2 - Part 4

                                                                                4

           I have to stop and rest on the way.  My ribs must have taken a worse beating than I originally thought.  I find a thick brush and break off some branches to make a cave like hollow.  It’s incredible how much flora exists now.  Bushes are massive, and the trees have grown so thick that, even though I’ve inhabited this area for a decade, I still find it’s easy to get lost.  I’ve been walking for half an hour, judging by the Sun, which is unimpaired by clouds this morning, but still hidden enough by the lush forest that the temperature is only minutely affected. 

            I don’t dare to peel away the fleece shirt make-shift bandage, but I do try to layer it differently, because the covered area has become damp with blood.  I retie the “dressing” quickly, not wanting to waste more time resting.  Not only can I die from the loss of blood, but I am certain to attract more predators.  For the few minutes I rest I am silent, hoping something I can eat will meander by, or fly overhead, though the possibility is slim.  One of the many problems that arose with the evolution was the intelligence of the animal kingdom…minus homos-erectus, of course.  Thus, animals know now to avoid humans at all costs.   Therefore, during my break time, I have not seen a single animal, though I know there is a higher population of them than has ever been on Earth.  No more disappointed than I was ten minutes ago, I emerge from my makeshift cover, and continue toward camp as my mind continues toward the painful reminiscence of my last life. 

            I remember going to my job that first day of the “last week”.  I arrived at my usual time, six in the morning.  The day’s schedule sat at the table in my area.  My job was to place electronic components on a circuit board.  These boards were used in computers, cell phones, calculators, and in motor vehicles.  I still find it hard to fathom how much our species was…I wouldn’t say reliant, because we could certainly survive without electronics (as I have); though it would cause tremendous complications in the kind of world we had created.  I think the proper word would be, infatuated.  We had become infatuated with electronics.  Maybe even integrated or amalgamated.  Regardless, electronics pretty much dictated our way of life.  That seems like a long time ago…now.

            I remember looking at the number of boards I needed to put out that day, 135 WBZ-1s, 112 H-12s, and 98 BC-45s.  Three different types of boards, requiring the initial set up of the machines, then two turnovers.  A typical Monday…until 10:15 that same morning.  That’s what time Jacob McConey came running into my dock.  I was about half way through the first batch of boards, really cruising through that set, when he sprinted up to my area.

            “Something’s happening, you need to come see,” he was panting, as though he’d been running laps around the building.  I looked up from the board I was working on, and noticed that half the floor was cleared out.  Though not laps, he had apparently been running around the building. 

            “What’s up?” I asked, assuming at first that there had been another terrorist attack.  In the year 2001, a terrorist group had hijacked some commercial planes and flew them into a couple of towers in what was known as New York, a state that resided on the eastern side of our country.  I was twenty-three at the time, and had just started working at the plant.  The feeling in the building that Monday, and the emptiness of the floor was very similar to that.

            “Don’t really know,” he said, so breathless what I heard was don rall know, “you jus’ gotta go to the lobby.  Ev’ry b’dy’s gotta go ta th’ lobby.”

            “That’s doesn’t sound good,” I replied, but he was already off to the next station.  I finished placing a chip on the board I had been working on, then stood up and went to lobby.

            The company had wheeled out a large screen TV and had it tuned to a local station.  Channel Nine, if memory serves, which I’ve already stated is up for debate.  This was first time I’d ever seen a Werebear.