The Rebellion (A Dystopian Cyberpunk Journey)

Chapter Two

Nona and Ava walked through the alleyways to avoid the crowded streets in the city. Most of the buildings on the outskirts of downtown were low and made of brick. More buildings hovered overhead blocking the sunlight and causing safety hazards. The military and political officials stayed in the houses in the sky. If pieces of the houses weren’t falling off and injuring people then sometimes you found yourself soaked in buckets of water or trash. The people dumping the trash didn’t think twice about whom it could hit or where it would land. The alley ground was covered with dirty needles, food, and pieces of metal. Rebels usually filled the shadows of the alleyway, but it was the only way they could travel to avoid run-ins with the government officials. Ava held on to Nona’s hand and swung playfully as she explored the buttons of the handheld piece of artificial intelligence that Nona had just bought her.

            “This thing is so cool. It can do anything.” Ava said softly. The screen smothered Ava’s face in a dim, blue light.

            “Can it tell me where the hell…” Nona put the piece of paper up to the light of the A.I., “Norman’s Backyard is?”  Ava pushed two buttons. A map of their location with an overhead view of buildings and names popped up.

            “Two hundred feet.”  

“Thank god. I wouldn’t have had this to Poppy by…” Nona heard a weird sound in the wind. She began to slow her pace as she looked around.  Ava was so engrossed in the AI that she continued to walk clicking buttons and moving the screens around. A few rebels leaning in the shadows leaned into the dim light to look into the sky. All that could be heard was a gasp of air as Nona leaped toward her sister. She had tackled her sister and sent them both rolling a couple feet before they hit a vendor at the end of the alleyway.

            “Nona, what the hell---”Ava gasped as she recovered her AI. A sharp razor disk, about six feet long, came crashing down two feet away from them.

            “That was almost you.” Nona retorted. Ava’s eyes grew wide. A few people had stopped to stare at them, but only a woman dressed in a black trench coat offered her hand to help. Ava took the woman’s hand while Nona used her own strength to pick herself up. They exchanged a nod and continued on her way. Ava had stopped messing with her AI and had grown silent. 

“You need to pay more attention to your surroundings. You want to do what I do? Never let your guard down. You need to pay attention to everything from falling buildings to subs that roam this damn city or you’ll end up just like them.” Ava kept her head low. The subs were the people who did nothing to help the city. They went about like zombies acting as if everything was okay. They were called subs because they were submissive to everything around them.

            “I’m sorry.” She whispered. Nona looked at her and put her arm around her.

            “I just need you alert. I’ll be damned if I lose you. You’re all I got.” Nona whispered. Ava smiled at her as they cut through the crowded street to the next alleyway.

            “Destination reached.” The AI finally said as they reached the other side of the alley.

            “At least it still works.” Ava joked as she pulled it out of her jacket and turned it off. They found their selves facing a small apartment building with an unlit sign that read Norman’s Backyard. It didn’t take much for Nona to pick up the last few things for the bakery. It did, however, take a while to get Ava away from the sweets section of the store. Nona found herself jogging from the first floor to the third and up to the fifth looking for Ava. When Nona found her, she was watching a TV set in the corner of the store on the first floor..