The New Humans

Chapter 4

Ash spread jam over a slice of bread, finished his breakfast, and returned to his room to get dressed. The clock said twenty to nine. He picked up his school bag and went down the stairs. His sister was already waiting for him at the door and together they headed for school. They walked past the rows of identical white houses: cubes without roofs. It was more like walking through the corridors of a factory that produced prefabricated structures.

Ash had never liked living in Finnis. It seemed like an overgrown suburb, devoid of life, history, and soul. It had a cemetery, but not a cinema; a hospital, but not a disco. It was more suitable for grandparents than teenagers.

He went over the exam material, not to think about it: At the end of the twentieth century, a huge movement began to raise awareness on the issue of global pollution. In 1997, the Tokyo agreements for the reduction of carbon dioxide emissions were signed. Tokyo or Kyoto? Well, Japan anyway. In the twenty-first century, the apex of global warming was reached. Pollution had already caused the extermination of thousands of animal and plant species. And then all the nations in the world met in 2035 to discuss the abolition of fossil fuels. Some nations continued to deny the link between pollution and global warming. Then one of the delegates had a brilliant idea that allowed all the governments on Earth to reach an agreement. What was it? I think it had something to do with . . .

Ash had heard of an app that allowed users to cheat in exams. It was connected to a pen and headset; after the user ran their pen over the questions, their phone looked for the answers on Net and transmitted them to the headset. Ash shook his head. Probably just an urban legend; it was too good to be true.

"How much money do you have in your wallet?" a voice said in the distance.

Rachel let out a sigh of concern. "Forget it," she said to Ash. "It's not worth it."

But Ash knew that voice. He looked around until he saw, near some garbage cans about a hundred feet away, a group of four guys holding a kid a few years younger by the hands and feet. They rocked him back and forth as if intending to throw him into the bins.

"I have nothing. Leave me alone," said the kid in tears while the others laughed.

"Bullshit!" said the taller boy. "You Numas are made of money."

It was Rike, one of Ash's classmate. Ash didn't know the younger boy well, but Numas were a common target of bullies at school.

"Maybe he keeps the money in his underwear. Let's take his pants off."

"No!" the kid cried.

Ash took a step forward, but his sister held him back. "Don't."

"I can't just stand here and watch."

Rachel shook her head. "There are four of them, and you're alone. You've tried this before. It always ends badly."

The boys had the kid on the ground and were trying to undress him. Ash shook his sister's arm away and ran toward them.

"Hey! Leave him alone," he said, pushing Rike away. Rike lost his balance for a moment but remained standing.

"Stupid Synthetic," Rike said and tried to grab him by the neck.

Ash sidestepped him. "Run!" he said to the kid.

The boy got to his feet and took off. However, the four didn't care about him anymore; Ash was their target now.

"You never seem to get tired of being pounded, hey Mack?" Rike said. "What is it? Do you like pain?"

"You'll come to a bad end sooner or later," Ash said. "If you're lucky, I'll put you in jail one day."

"If I'm lucky, you and all the synthetics will be exterminated in the crematoria one day."

Ash clenched his fists and brought them in front of his face, like a boxer ready for fight. The four advanced toward him, forming a circle to cut off all the escape routes.

"They say that by eating a Numa's eyes, your eyesight improves," Rike said. "Let's see if that's true."

Ash stepped back and heard a noise like the crush of a cracker. He looked down and saw that he'd squished a cockroach. A handful of cockroaches circled his feet.

He screamed and jumped away, shaking his legs in case one of them had climbed on him. His heart was pounding. It was only then that he noticed the boys held their bellies with laughter.

"Did you see how that Synthetic moved? Like he had a mouse in his underwear."

Ash felt his cheeks heat up. "What are you laughing at?"

They didn't even listen to him. They laughed until there were tears in their eyes. Filled with rage, Ash ran over and kicked Rike in the balls.

He fell to his knees, his face twisted in pain. "You jerk!"

The boy next to him reached out to grab Ash, but a third pair of arms got in his way.

"That's enough!" Rachel watched the boys with fiery eyes.

"Is this a family reunion? How sweet. If we stop, will you call the police?"

"I'll call our father, not the police. He's an IDAN agent."

The boys helped Rike to his feet and walked away. But before they'd gone far, Rike stopped and turned to Ash. "You're dead, Synthetic. See you later at school."

Ash waited until the boys were out of earshot. "You didn't need to come to my rescue," he said to Rachel.

"Right, because you were doing so well on your own."

"How about you mind your own business for once?" he shouted. The whole school would know before long that Asher Mack couldn't fight his own battles and needed his sister to stick up for him.

"I was trying to help you."

"Next time leave me alone."