Ghosts: Chapter 1

1

                I can't remember the last time I've seen another person. Years I've spent wandering through ash covered landscapes and not a single soul has crossed my path. I seem to be educated yet I have no memory of my childhood or my family. Amnesia's the only conclusion I can draw. What I know for certain is that my name is Kyle Foster and today -June 3rd, 2073- is my 23rd birthday.

                I've made it my purpose in life to find another one like me- another person that is. An incident occurred last year where I thought my journey was over. It was during late fall that I came across a city where the buildings rested upon each other. Within the ruins of an old industrial factory, I found her. She rested on an operating table as if to be waiting to be awakened. Her skin was pale and her hair was black. I knocked a scalpel onto the floor by accident and from the clanking sound that it made, she woke up. Her open eyes revealed red pupils and at very moment I came to the realization that she was a machine. It was as if I wanted to find a human so badly that I had completely ignored the wires and rust that had surrounded her. I then left and continued my journey.

28

                It had become winter and it was much harder to travel through the cold. As I climbed over a mountain I saw in the distance an old worn down house. The landscape seemed as if it was once used for crops but had now become nothing more than ashes. The wooden house slouches inward from age but seems to hold some hope for life. The floor boards screeched as I walked in through the doorway and into the living room. In many ways, this house felt alive. I picked up a picture resting on the wall to see a family from the late 2050's. They stood still smiling at the camera. The glass reflected my face and for some reason my face seemed a tad different from those in the picture. Carved into the wall were black markings. There seemed to be a depiction of an atomic bomb; and sitting below it rested the phrase “all for nothing.”

12

                I returned to another metro style landscape, but this time at the darkest hour. On that night not even the yellow moon could break through the thick smog of ash that swirling above. The city lied nearly completely in ruins. I climbed down into the catacombs that were once subway tunnels. ‘Perhaps- just perhaps- there’s a lost soul waiting to be found in this abyss,’ I thought to myself.

                I traveled with a flashlight to light my way. The walls of the tunnel had been pushed inward yet it had not collapsed. I wondered why fear had not plagued me yet. The tunnel dropped off into a pit that not even my light could reach the bottom. I kicked a bit a gravel to gage the depth of the pit. Suddenly the ground began shaking and to my surprise I noticed a red light shining back at me. As if by chain reaction, dozens of more red lights shined on me from the bottom of the pit, then a word was whispered to me, “Human?”

                Other voices echoed this word in different pitches as the lights began to move. The word was echoed in what I understood to be praise, ‘Human, Human, Human, HuMan, HuMAn, hUMaN.’ Then, their tone dropped as if to remember an unsettling event. They sounded angered as they chanted the word ‘Human.’ The Lights lifted from the abyss revealing a junkyard full of rusting machines. I stumbled back and began running back through the tunnel as I was chased by hundreds of disturbed machines. Suddenly the catacombs had become unfamiliar and I found myself lost and being hunted. As I panicked to find an escape I tripped and busted my flashlight. I was then alone in the dark waiting for my end. It was so dark that I couldn’t even tell if my eyes were open or not; then in the distance a red light shined through the tunnel. The entire tunnel quickly became drenched in red light. ‘hUMAn, HuMaN, HUMAN…!’ the tones screamed as they approached me, then suddenly, they stopped. I unclenched my nerves as I noticed the assembly of machines staring at me confused. “Not Human, Not Human, Not Human…’ they whispered as they faded back into the tunnels; their red lights growing progressively dimmer over what had seemed like a lifetime. I was once again alone in the pitch black and to my surprise my flashlight suddenly came back to life. I picked it up in confusion and whispered to myself, “I am human…”

13

                I awoke the following morning in a partly collapsed hospital that still stood taller than all the other buildings in the city. As expected, no life was found in the subways yesterday and I fell asleep late that night in the lobby of a hospital. The morning had greeted me with the same lazy haze that it had always greeted me with over the last 23 years of my life. ‘There’s always a chance of life of finding life today. I just have to stay positive,’ I said as motivation.

                Thick black smoke descended upon the city and any building below three stories tall was obscured. So for the time being, I was stranded in this building. The lobby was cluttered with dust that would slowly sway back and forth as air passed through the room. I climbed up to the fifth floor and came to a long corroder that had about a dozen or so rooms on each side. I scanned each room for any life but was disappointed to find nothing more than dust. On the sixth floor was a large waiting room that had been ripped open to reveal a panoramic view of the dust covered city. To my surprise, there was a robot sitting on the edge of the building. It closely resembled an actual human, but his face and arm had been torn open. He sat there overseeing the city as if to be enjoying the view.

                “Hey,” I called to it.

                “Hi there, I believe your searching for something… no?” He said with a hoarse animatronic voice.

                “How did you know?”

                “Let me guess. You’ve spent every day of your life searching for a human being… right?”

                “Who are you?” I said a bit disturbed.

                “And let me finish. And your name is Kyle Foster… correct?”

                “But…” I stood speechless at this sudden surprise.

                “Do you think you can handle the truth?” He offered me, “Honestly, I’m sure you’ve known it all along; maybe not consciously though.”

                “The truth…?” I whispered bewildered.

                “Yes. The truth,” He said looking at me with his glowing red pupils, “You can either choose to leave this hospital and continue your journey… or stay and hear the truth.”

                As he said this, the smoke cloud covering the city dispersed and the roadways were once again clear. What was this ‘Truth’ that he kept rambling on about? Perhaps he knew that there was no more life on earth. But how could a machine have known that for certain? What would I do once I heard this ‘Truth?’ Would my journey be over? And if so, what would I do then? My entire life has been one long search for human life. Do I know how to do anything else? But what do I have to lose? Nothing really.

                “I will stay,” I answered the machine.

                “Then allow me to show you something,” He said as he led met to the fifth floor, “I will admit, at first I didn’t accept the truth when I was shown it. So I don’t expect you to accept it at first either.”

2

                “Tell me,” The machine asked me as he showed me a mirror, “What do you see?”

                I didn’t know what to tell him.

                “Look closely,” He said showing me my reflection, “Don’t you see it?”

                “See what?” I said looking as close as I could. I saw nothing but my own reflection looking back.

                “The wires and rust lying right beneath your skin,” He admitted. I felt astonished.

                “What are you trying to tell me?  I am human!” I denied, “I know it!”

                “When was the last time you ate?” He submersed me deeper into his ‘truth.’

                “I…” I hesitated, “I don’t eat... but maybe I don’t need to.”

                He seemed frustrated at convincing me. I wasn’t willing to accept that everything I knew was false.

                “Do you see this,” He said showing me his torn open arm, “Read me the name beneath the bar code.”

                I read it but I felt unable to say it.

                “Kyle Fosters,” I finally said, “… but how?”

                “We were a recon unit,” He explained, “Designed to search for life in the event of a natural disaster.”

                “No,” I denied, “Who do you think you are? I know who I am. I know who I am.”

                I stumbled out of the room feeling nauseous as I repeated, “I am human, I am human, I am…”

36

                “Wake up,” A familiar voice called, “You must have powered off from an electric overload.”

                “Where are-” I mumbled as I came back to my senses, “Oh, It’s you again.”

                “How do you feel?” The voice asked.

                “Human,” I said confidently.

                “Hmm,” The machine wondered, “The puppet who wanted to become a real boy.”

                I lifted my head to see that I was under the moonlight on the sixth floor once again. The panoramic view seemed just as magnificent as it had in the daytime.

                “I don’t care what I am,” I came to an ultimatum, “I’m going to find human life if it’s the last the last thing I do.”

                “Well friend. I don’t suggest it, but there’s an underground fallout shelter about an hour in that direction,” He said pointing north.

                “Are there… people?” I said anxious.

                “Yes. Plenty of people but-”

                “Thank you but I will be leaving now,” I demanded.

                As I stood up the machine hesitated to slow me down, but struggled to find the words.

                “I- I’ve seen this play out before,” The machine begged, “I too once believed I was human. And I too, once traveled to that fallout shelter. Trust me; you won’t like how this ends.”

                “I’ll decide that for myself. Goodbye,” I said as I left. I felt a sense of uneasiness as I wished that the machine was wrong.

34

                The entrance to the underground fallout shelter stood no taller than a one story house but seemed heavily barricaded. I was almost a half mile away from the door, but it felt so close. I glanced back at the hospital in the distance wondering if that machine was still watching me.

                “Home,” I mumbled progressively louder as I started running to the door, “Home! Home at last!

                I pounded on the door anxious for a reply. My entire life came down to this one moment. I couldn’t wait to meet another human like myself. I couldn’t wait to prove that machine at the hospital wrong. I had no doubt in my mind that I was finally home with my people.

                I became quiet as I heard noise on the other side of the door. Suddenly a barred speak-easy window slid open.

                “Who is it?” A human voice asked.

                “It’s me! Kyle Foster! I’m finally home!” I shouted with joy.

                “Oh,” The pair of eyes said disappointed, “Another one of these things.”

                “Excuse me sir?” I said shocked.

                “Look, I’d be glad to let you in but we only take humans,” He said unable to console me.

                “But I- I-”

                “I’m sorry,” The pair of eyes finally said closing the window.

                “I am human! I AM HUMAN!” I yelled trying to break down the door with all my might. I didn’t understand; how could I have been wrong all this time?

                As the door caved in I pushed harder and suddenly the door fell, but before I could enter I was greeted with a flurry of bullets. I fell hard onto my back under the cloud covered moon. The door was put back up and locked as I was left in the winter cold. I looked down at my torso to see wires and rust. ‘How?’ I kept asking myself. Snow trickled down from the sky, but this snow was black. Ashes rained onto my dying body as I went through my last thoughts.

                I can't remember the last time I've seen another person. Years I've spent wandering though ash covered landscapes and not a single soul has crossed my path. I seem to be educated yet I have no memory of my childhood or my family. Amnesia's the only conclusion I can draw. What I know for certain is that my name is Kyle Foster, and I am not human.