2 days later
_______
Melly shoots up. Her cyber heart racing as she looks around the general area.
Her vision blurred in and out as she squeezed the thin blanket that was once covering her entire body from her neck down.
She could feel the soft mattress under her. A large mirror in front of her due to the bed being implanted into the ground. She seemed to be in this cell. This room that was curved like a booth built into a room.
A door that slides open and closed beside her. The walls were dirty and reeked of rust inside. To her right was a curved wall with a large window giving a view to the outside city.
The view was stunning. Melly looks down slowly lifting the blanket and feeling the fabric.
Her eyes flashed pink and blue as she felt so good to be safe.
But she had no idea where she was. Melly slowly stands and could hear what sounded like laughter coming from outside of the room.
As the blanket slid off of her she could see that she was naked. Her human body parts such as her breast, Vagina, and butt still being part of her human side.
Melly stands.
Her reflection showing herself as she looked at the italic white of her jawline. Her arms were thin and long. Her legs were beautiful and curvy as so were her hips and stomach. Almost a perfect hourglass body she has.
Her eyes had stopped flashing to show a hazel color like that of a humans.
Melly slowly walks over to the mirror. opening her mouth she now looked at the purely white teeth she had. So straight, so beautiful.
She looks down slowly.
A small framed picture is next to the sink. A small door next to the sink and mirror with a stand-up shower and a glass door that blurred people looking in from the outside but had a clear vision for people looking out from the inside.
The door slid open and Melly quickly spun around to see a girl standing there.
A towel in her left hand and a bucket of water in her right. Her hair fell down to her back and her skin was light. Melly swallowed nervously scanning the girl with now dark blue eyes.
"Uh... hi?" The girl says.
Melly's eyes turned back to normal after sensing no harm from this human.
"Room is a little dirty but this is probably the cleanest spot in the house. I'm sure you'd appreciate it if you woke up in a good environment," the girl says.
Melly didn't say anything. The girl takes a deep breath after looking away from Melly's naked body.
"I was gonna wash you... but you're awake so I think you can do it yourself if you feel uncomfortable," the girl offered.
"Thank you..." Melly says. Melly's voice was like talking to an anime character. So light, so soft. An accent from that of a foreign country such as Mexico, Argentina, or Japan.
"Chihaya... hehe. That's my name. Looks like you're some kind of... robot-human thing. I've only heard about those on Tv when we watched the news of Africa's amazing city called Zoofa... hehe," Chihaya smiles.
Melly smiles nervously.
"I am Melly..." Melly greets.
"Hi, Melly."
Chihaya walks further in closing the door behind her. Melly could hear it automatically lock on its own.
"I stashed a pair of my clothes somewhere..." Chihaya began searching around the room lifting baskets and blankets before she has seen a pair of black jeans, Vans, and a black hoodie in the corner.
"I was asleep for so long?" Melly asked.
Chihaya looks up.
"Just two days. Scorpion sent out drones and recruited secret spies to look for you. They even checked this complex to see if you were hiding here. Lucky for us they don't have the right to come into our homes unless they have a warrant." Chihaya informed.
Melly nodded softly.
A soft knock was heard from the door.
Melly brought her arms close to her body in fear as she looked to the closed door.
"Chihaya!? Where's my phone!" A boy yells.
"I don't know! Check your room!"
"I did!"
"Too damn bad. Look where you last had it!"
"IF I FUCKIN KNEW WHERE I LAST HAD IT, I WOULD FUCKIN HAVE IT!" the boy screamed.
"Who's that?" Melly asked.
"Cash. One of my best friends. The first person I made friends with when I moved from Japan to here to move up in my basketball career," Chihaya says.
Chihaya lifts her chin before tossing Melly the clothes she had in her hand.
"Get dressed. I know someone that can fix your arm. Seemed to get damaged when you were running away from Scorpion," Chihaya says.
______
Melly, Cash, and Chihaya all stand in the living room.
Chihaya leave the living room walking off in a different direction.
Melly had gotten dressed and was now looking at a Tv that hung from the ceiling. The screen was a hologram that circled around the base of the Tv.
The sofa surrounded the Tv making people having to walk in through a small entrance to sit down. In the middle of this small circle was a hologram table with a see-through surface that seemed to be floating above a small pad that kept gravity from pulling it downward.
"So you're that thing people searching for?" Melly heard.
Melly turned around to see Cash standing there. A T-shirt on, dark skin, skinny, and Melly assumed he was African American.
His hands were dry and his skin seemed to have some condition to make them look the way they did.
"Yes... I am Melly," Melly greeted.
Cash smiled and proceeded to pour him a glass of water.
"OOOOh hehe, we know who you are," he laughs.
Melly cleared her cyber throat.
"How old are you?" Cash looks up taking a swig of his drink. He was now leaning on the table crossing his legs showing off the Jordan's and tight jeans to match his entire outfit.
"25... I don't remember much of my past life. I wake up in this house. Everything goes black again. I wake up again and now people chase me," Melly answered.
Chihaya stepped out of a room exactly like the one Melly was in.
"Ready?" She asked.
Melly nodded. Cash reached into a drawer in the dirty kitchen filled with dishes, wires, trash, and rust throwing a mask to Melly.
"Cover the bottom of your face. You look weird."
"She does not look weird!" Chihaya chimed in.
"What?!?! Having a metal jaw doesn't look weird to you?"
"No! Nothing is wrong with her!"
"Clearly you're being too nice!" Cash and Chihaya argue as they both walk towards the front door of the apartment.
Melly had caught up to them.
The door slide open quickly letting all three of them step out of the apartment.
Melly could see that they weren't in a normal apartment complex. A long hall on either side of them leads to different exits. The Sun was just rising outside letting the beautiful city show itself.
Melly could see chip wrappers and snicker wrappers blow in the soft wind. The walls were filled with artwork and the paint was chipping off.
As they walk down the hall, people smoking and chilling could be seen. Half naked woman, boys with shirts off. People walked around with high-tech goggles of sorts. Not a single one didn't have a tattoo or looked as if they were in some sort of gang.
"Wassup, Jeffery!" Cash smiled throwing up a peace sign to a guy walking in the opposite direction with a metal bat in his hand.
"Hey, handsome. 30 dollars for a little fun..." An older woman about 40 years old rubbed on herself stopping in front of Cash to try and get him to have sex with her.
Chihaya grabs Melly by the arm and walked a little faster as Cash politely rejected the older woman and began walking along with them.
"Be careful around here. We got some crackheads that stay in the complex." Cash informs Melly.
They reached the elevator. A fence-like gate as the door and the inside dirty with dried up blood stains on the poop brown walls with a hint of artwork.
All three stepped in and Chihaya pressed a touch screen pad that gave her an option to go up or down.
The gate closed and Melly was too focused on looking at how much poverty she was around at the moment. This truly was the bad side of the city she had heard about in her past life.
As the past would call it "The Hood" "The Ghetto"
Those terms were in a book that dated back to 2021 when a virus called Covid-19 was out.