A long time after the warring states period. The international government rose to power and ended the age of sedition. The first emperor he-who-leads-and-protect, reset the chronology of human history to symbolize a new start for mankind and the end of all past feuds, the international government separated the world into political regions, under the administration of supreme region governors who directly answer to the congress and the emperor.
There were four regions, North east, Europe, North America and South Hemisphere, Each region implements different policies with regard to their culture and history.
In introspection to the long wars before the international government was established, all the states of all the different regions were declared to be working in unison to bring peace and prosperity to the whole humankind. All military weaponry was banned and confiscated. Any person or association from any state or district would be immediately eliminated off the surface of the world if it held unauthorized munition.
For the past years, their efforts towards peace worked well, the international government slowly fixed the wounds of the wars and mitigated the hatred between people of diverse colors, origin, and religious beliefs.
It was the year 46 by the internationale(The newly implemented chronology of the international government, which starts at year zero marking the end of the great plague that eventually ended the war and brought humans together in the face of greater danger.)
New Quay city, China district, North East region, once named shanghai, was one of the first cities to rejuvenate after the great plague. The municipal government reconstructed the ports, roads, subways, resupplied water, electricity, rebuilt factories, shops, parks and schools.
The sprawling city cleared away the wreckage that was its predecessor and built upon it, a robust cluster of ever-growing skyscrapers with renewed vitality.
After arduous research, scientists recreated the knowledge, technology, and engineering techniques lost to the war and the plague, adding the glamour of technology to the magnificent metropolis.
Thus, prosperous and imposing, the central districts of New Quay City became the citadel of the most powerful figures and the wealthiest elites, the suburbs and downtown areas also drew in people from around the world seeking fortune, rendering itself a crucible of diverse cultures and ideals.
Although the security in the city center was so impeccable that one could name no safer place in the world, the same could not be said for the slums and peasant districts sprawling under the shadows of the skyscrapers.
So thought Zeine Li as his navigator drone started to whizz and shudder in the air uncontrollably and sent random warnings to him as it went faulty, while it led him into an unknown part of the New Quay in stark contrast to the magnificent and futuristic city view he was used to.
Zeine was a seventeen-year-old living in the between-area, separating the wealthy from the abject. He himself was privileged enough to go to the public schools and receive a fair amount of monthly rations--subsidy for teenage orphans with middle-class civilian identity certification, not yet of age but considered adequate to fend for themselves.
He assumed he was native Chinese for he spoke Chinese but he never quite knew how, for he had no recollection of his parents who left him a reassuring amount of money, but left no trace neither in his memory nor in his life.
He had lived for a while with his grandmother who died a few days after he turned fifteen, ridding him of the sole clue of his misty childhood, and also leaving him alone with no living relations in the wide world. When Zeine was younger he would ask grandmother about his parents, but she never disclosed anything about them. And Oh, he would wonder and daydream about who they had been, what they'd do, and imagined that they were secretly alive somewhere, looking for him.
Sometimes he would wake up sweating and panting in the middle of the night from dreams he'd forget immediately afterwards. He was somehow sure that those dreams concerned his forgotten past. But he didn't dwell too deep into it, though it was quite a tragedy that he knew nothing of his parents, he was in no position to complain as their wealth sustained a quite luxurious life for him, he was affluent enough to afford a costly state-of-the-art guitar and corresponding gadgets, and an expensive weekly session with the renowned ex-member of the Rolling Fire Band, speaking of which, he is currently on the way to the session.
He had been thinking about a new technique he was going to try this session, and wasn't aware of his surroundings as he immersed himself in thought for a few minutes. He just followed his navigator drone blindly and it must have malfunctioned and led him astray without him even noticing.
He took a look at his watch and groaned.
late for sure, he thought aloud, and what's worse, lost as well.
He, like most people of this era, wasn't in the habit of bringing a mobile phone with him, as a random drone can do all its jobs effectively, and provide company as well.
He looked around him and found himself in the old factory part of the city. That was hours of driving distance away from anywhere he'd ever been.
But how was he able to reach the place in mere minutes? This puzzled him, was this just some place that looked a lot like the old factories and was relatively close to his weekly routine but he never noticed?
Possibly, because...
But what's with the dreariness? He'd been sticking to the main road.
Any place so close to the main road would always be bustling with cars and strolling people.
And then, he heard a noise coming from a dark alley to the left behind him.
Instincts told him to avoid it, nobody wants to go down a dark alley with strange sounds, so he turned to leave.
But then his navigator drone whizzed back to life.
"Reanalyzing, planning route, please follow me this way." The little robot chimed.
"About time." he signed with relief and went after the buzzing drone.
But the alley way suddenly reminded him of a gaping mouth, it was like one of those places in horror movies where things would suddenly spring on you.
But navigator drones usually pick the safest route, and police drones are all over the place near the main road, nothing can go wrong, he thought.
Though the dark alley was quite ominous and unsettling, but really, what could happen.
He thought this through and marched into the shadows.
He was blinded for a while, the sun was too bright and the alley too dark, he waited for his eyes to adjust. But before it did, he knew something was off.
The constant whizzing and conversational chit-chat of the navigator drone was shut out from his hearing, and the place was too dark to be normal. A faint metallic smell hang in the air, he sniffed, and judging by the feel of it, there was blood somewhere, stale blood and fresh blood.
His vision returned and he glanced around.
The top was blocked, he didn't look before entering, but the fact that it was so dark and the fact that the sun was blotted out somehow got on his nerves. It looked much darker from the inside than from the outside.
He signed. Stop thinking too much, Zeine, he told himself, security bots would come to my aid at a moments notice if anything goes wrong, you can't be safer.
He stepped forward and looked ahead of him. He was shocked to see, lying sprawled on the ground, the iridescent silhouette of a man a few yards away from him. It was dark but he could somehow see this man with absurd clarity. The man lay there whimpering, his limbs jerking in grotesque angles, his belly was cut open, his insides plastered all over him, and a hideous wound punctured his chest, revealing white ribs. A pool of dried blood surrounded him, and fresh blood was still seeping out from his wounds.
But the man was still breathing, and he turned his head to gaze at Zeine, he was gruesomely deformed, but alive.
It was like a nightmare come to life.
Zeine felt sick, his stomach churned and a spasm ran up his spine, this is all a bad joke, no one can survive like that. Zeine thought as he fought to keep down his breakfast.
He rubbed his eyes and looked again hoping that this was all a momentary hallucination, but as he trained his eyes on the man who remained there in his place, he knew it was not.
Instinctively he drew back, his trembling legs were starting to give way under him, he then tripped on his foot and fell on his back.
Zeine was pale and hyperventilating. Nothing he had experienced so far could prepare him for this. The sight of a broken human body can sometimes greatly unsettle people, except for those who were born killers, or born healers.
Calm down, calm down, Zeine battled internally, beating down the fear and nausea that threatened to enervate him.
Inhaling deeply, he calmed himself and composed his thoughts.
This man is alive, and he needs help. I'm the only one who can get help for him.
I should help him. Don't be a coward and recoil at the mere sight of blood, Zeine, you're better than that, this is just someone who needs your aid.
So he said in a tremoring voice, trying his best to steady himself and sound reassuring.
"Ddddon't worry, I'll get help."
That said, Zeine steeled his trembly legs and got up to his feet, looking around for his drone. Navigator drones aren't just navigators, they are multifunctional portals that can call the police, ambulance and fire squads.
"Den!", he called.
Den was the name of his drone, when called and perceived, drones would zoom to their master's side without a moment's delay.
Nothing happened.
"Den?", he yelled, a little bit panicky.
No response.
"Wait here, bro, don't worry, stay there, you'll be alright." Zeine said to the man with another reassuring smile and turned.
There must be someone who could help around the corner, if he left the alley and went out into the open, he could do something, get someone to help.
But as he turned, something even more dreadful occurred, the path behind him, which should lead to the outside where he came from, was gone.
Instead, there was, in its place, a stretch of wall going all the way up, up and up into nothingness. All light, from above and behind was blotted out entirely.
What is this? What's happening?
Zeine paled as he tried to understand.
As he stared, afraid, something slippery touched the back of his neck and rapped itself around his waist, he turned in confusion, and saw a face.
The wounded man's face, so close that it's nose almost touched his cheek.
The man, who, moments before was five yards away bleeding to death was now clinging to him with his intestines wrapped around Zeine's waist, one slippery end of it was worming its way up his chest, and his insides dangled precariously from his torso.
The man grinned malignantly right at Zeine, it wasn't the thank-you-for-helping-me grin, it was the you-are-about-to-die kind of grin.
The man's eyes were blood-shot, his expression maddened and delirious, and he licked his lips with his tongue.
He was like a ghost from your worst nightmare.