Young man is walking on streets of city basking in sunlight. He is smiling and whistling funny tune.
This is me, Markus Berkut. I am happy, today I got my first official paycheck. It is quite a sum for fresh graduate but thanks to my marketing project company was able to gain some nice PR and bosses decided to promote and provide extra bonus.
You may wonder why and how I managed to do this? Well thanks to my marketing project company was able to shift the blame from themselves on government after another oil leakage. This saved company a lot of money all thanks to my hard work and lack of proper sleep for few weeks. Damn, I have been half awake and half asleep most of a time but now I can have a good rest.
But most importantly I can buy a game and new gaming PC with my money new. I was saving money for Cyberpunk 2077 for the past 6 months. Now I can finally see Johnny Silverhand aka Keanu Reeves and listen to chipped in! You can't imagine how hard it was to stay away from spoilers and videos as well as colleagues discussing the game. Bastards, they have made me wanna cry.
Anyway let's get it and enjoy Night City!
30 minutes of mad shopping and another 30 minutes of going home and setting up gaming PC agony later.
Finally I can start playing.
The moment I saw Cyberpunk 2077 launch screen I pressed a button.
But right that moment I saw strange flash and last thing I remember is how strange purple lightning hit me and my mind went blur.
Next moment when I opened my eyes I saw that instead of my cosy room I am in some strange scrap yard.
What the hell! Have my overworked body given up and this is just weird dream caused by long sleep deprivation? Damn, that's really a killjoy.
However, it feels too real to be a dream. I can sense horrible stench from junkyard and feel the warmth of sun. I started to panic, what if I am in some strange coma and this is just my mind playing tricks on me.
Ok. Calm down. Breath in. Breath out. Even if it is a coma or weird dream it will end one way or another so no point of panicking. Let's consider it as hmm a trip? Yeah, new adventure into the depth of my madness.
I have decided to have a look around and started climbing nearest hill made up of waste and scrap. This artificial hill turned out to be a good vintage and I started observing. But what I saw in next seconds made me get goose bumps.
Big city with lots of skyscrapers. Strange flying vehicles. Large holographic advertisement panels. And the most important thing it was a big blimp with words - Welcome To Night City!
Oh god. I am in cyberpunk world. Hahaha. This is one weird dream but I already love it. At least destiny has a good sense of humour. I was enjoying this strange eyesight not paying attention to anything else except that amazing view in front of me.
However things changed very quickly. I have started hearing strange sound of jet engine but unlike that thunderous roar it sounded as if engine was coughing and couldn't breath. Few seconds later I saw a small aerodyne slowly falling down and it was flying towards my junk hill. I don't know why but my body urged me to run as far as possible. Weird, what can happen to me here. It is a dream. Nevertheless I decided to climb down and get out of possible impact zone.
It was almost 30 seconds when I heard a clash and junk hill got destroyed by aerodyne. Vehicle haven't stopped there it kept going for another 25 meters and stopped almost next to me. Next second two battered and bloodied men in strange uniform with guns come out of it.
" Clear the landing area and prepare to defend it until reinforcements arrive." - shouted one of them with shattered helmet through which I can see scarred face.
" We got unknown individual here" - shouted another guy pointing his gun and I instinctively rise my hands up.
" What do you mean unknown?"
" He is....clean. My scanners show no cyberware or other implants. No hidden weapons as well."
" Tell him to fuck off and not cause any problems."
"You heard him. Now get out of here before I shoot you, hobo."
I just nodded and planned to run like Forrest before those trigger happy dudes shoot me for fun or whatever.
" Wait. You said he is clean. No cyberware or implants right. Hold him there. We got a problem with one of our pilots and clients." - quickly ordered shattered helmet guy.
" You freeze there" - shouted his partner and pointed his gun at me.
Come on. Just let me go I sighed in my head getting down on my knees with hands behind by head.
After few minutes another guy with strange med kit come out of aerodyne and took sample of my blood with quite futuristic syringe-device.
" Wow. We have a jackpot here guys. He is not only lacks cyberware but his body is quite clean. No signs of toxins or chemicals also he is universal donor." - his words made me feel quite scared. He sounded like a butcher looking at award winning cow.
" Listen here hobo or whoever you are. You can make some cash if you voluntarily donate your blood." - yeah voluntarily what a great word when you point gun at someone and ask to give you something. Even if I disagree you can just knock me out and suck me dry.
Not much of a choice here so I just sighed and nodded.
" You guys are quite polite for gangsters." - I said while following to aerodyne.
" We aren't gangsters or other scum. We are Trauma Team. Now sit down here and prepare for transfusion process." - medic or whoever he is ordered me to take a sit next to two guys that looked pretty bad. One dude was charred and missed a limb while another one had blood oozing from his mouth.
Next few minutes I was donating my blood while Trauma team was securing area and treating patients. I started feeling weak when I have donated around half a litre of my blood. Let's hope that this will be enough otherwise I am deadmeat for sure especially here in junkyard.
" Bad news cap. Our nearest aerodyne is still far away and they will make it in 120-150 seconds. Client and pilot won't last without extra blood supply. I have already pumped out a lot of blood from our blood bag here." - said bloodsucker while checking something on his monitor.
" Shit. What is your advice on current situation."
" Well. We can offer hobo a bit extra for another pint of his blood. It is quite good and will allow us to keep both client and pilot in stable state. Otherwise we have to sacrifice Wingy."
" Aargh, office will cut my bonus again this month for wasting emergency budget reserves. I will use my own money instead. Let me have a quick chat with hobo and let's hope he won't be too greedy." - shattered helmet aka captain started walking towards me.
" Listen here hobo, you can make even more money if you donate more blood. Are you in?"
I wondered for few moments but then I had a strange, mad or brilliant idea, depends on perspective.
" I have better idea. Guys can you take me in Trauma Team. Your medic have checked my blood and he knows how good it is so why not make a deal. You will accept me and train while I can donate my blood or other valuable things such as bone marrow or whatever. This should cover some costs while I payback for training and your help by working for your organisation"
This was a very thin ice. One wrong step and I can end up with dry corpse but in my situation I had no better ideas. I started to realise that this is not a dream but real world. Completely alone and unaware of new realities I can get easily killed or turned into organ farm cattle. Joining Trauma Team is also no the best option but still something. Let's hope for the best.
" What do you think?" - shattered helmet asked medic.
" I am not sure but he and his blood can help us a lot. Also he doesn't look like corporate or gang member so it should be fine. Let's bring him to base and give it a go."
" Alright. You got deal although I have to be honest with you that I can't just sign you in but I will do my best to give you chance. Now let's get back to work."
Again I started donating blood and slowly I started feeling weak and dizzy. With each second passing it was getting worse.
Last thing I remember before passing out is how I got carried into aerodyne and glowing letters on blimp up in sky.
NIGHT CITY
Heh, yeah welcome to Cyberpunk me. Then darkness shrouded my mind.