Shades of Wolves

Chapter 2: Mahoney

November, 10th, 2100

This is the first time after my brother’s death that I started my journal again. I came from a very poor family. I went to school with joy and warmth. And at the end, I was living in pain with all the fortune and everything.

I have no idea what happened to me. I want to be the winner. Then what would I do with those money? I wanna buy another body. But I will definitely keep my memories. At least, there are still Hoa in those memories of mine.

                                                                                                    Mahoney

Hoa walked up to the top of a building. She sat down on the edge. Her legs were waving side by side along the vast space under. All it took was one inch forward and she would drop down from the sky. The beer went from the can on her hand went straight down into her throat.

Her phone rang. One finger swiped up on the smart watch’s screen. An infrared screen popped up in front of her eyes. There was a photo of a pretty girl with thick long blond hair appeared as well. Her nose was high and her eyes were sparkling. Mahoney was always like that, smiling and all. She was so much different from Hoa. But at the same time, she was that Vitamin C kind of drug in Hoa’s life which helped her to maintain and not to get worse.

“Where are you?” asked Mahoney.

“Same spot”, said Hoa with comfort. She got one more sip of beer before continuing, “Are you coming?”

“Give me a second”

Not even ten minutes later, Mahoney arrived with her flying electrical motorbike. Its engine roared for a couple of seconds. Then the whole thing landed on the nearby brick floor. Hoa silently gave it the complimentary of hers. The model was smooth and convenient. It was a leap for Telsa, for sure, the direct competitor of WIC.

Mahoney took of her helmet to sit down next to Hoa. She let her legs freely playing with the wind as much as Hoa did. This must be their habit after hundreds of times of doing the same thing over and over and over again.

It could be said that Mahoney and Hoa were not living in the same world. That lady over there was a princess who lived in a golden house, slept on a golden bed, and dressed in golden clothes. It was completely opposite with the rest of the dying world out there.

They looked different from each other, too. Hoa’s hair was black and shouldered-short, Asian. Mahoney was a typical of a white princess with her blond hair. Hoa’s closet was quite informal and more of a street style and simple. Like today, she picked a t-shirt with some cartoon character, a layer of cheap dark blue jacket which costed not more than two dollars at the night market outside, a pair of jeans and a pair of faded sneakers. Mahoney, on another hand, was wearing a long dress with her white shirts on top, hair was combed carefully. Nobody could ever see these two and think that they were friends to begin with, not to mention they were actually close friends.

“How’s your dad?”

“Not really good” She gulped another beer. Mahoney did not need to be asked. She took one of the beer cans and just drank it with her whole head looking all the way up.

“Would you like me to take some grands for you? I can do it”, Mahoney’s eyes were on the road below them both. The sound of the city seemed far away.

 Hoa gave her best friend a glance before moving her eyesight to the same way of her friend’s, to watch those tiny cars passing by.

She laughed quietly, “Aren’t you scared that you might be beaten to death?” Something was better left unspoken. Hoa knew it. Mahoney also knew it. The more they talked about it, the more pain it created.

“Yeah, right. Then did you come up with anything?”

Mahoney looked at Hoa. She could see it. Hoa’s eyes were glued on the huge billboard of WIC over there. They were playing an ad of the upcoming survival game that would be taken place soon. Those sounds and effects that would catch people’s eyes and got their attention easily. It was almost too flashy that people forgot how dangerous this whole thing was. The money and the rewards for the winner was like a hypnotic pendulum to the needy.

“You wanna join?”

“$100 million dollars and the key to their high-level library. Imagine how much stuff we could afford with those”

Hoa spoke with her positive imagination. The high-level library was where they kept tons of information extracted from the biggest brains of the greatest men that had passed away. After the pandemic, people learned that virus was anything but class discrimination kind. It was not really picky about their victims. From a normal netizen to the greatest scientist, or a giant politician, everyone could be its best friend and got it in their system. One carelessness was all it took to have the free ticket to the grave. WIC had a team that negotiated and set a price to buy back the information from their brains. That information could be anything, from the research experience to political experience, anything. And then they would hold an auction for that amount of info. With excellent implant technology, they could absolutely implant the data into the brain of the buyers. However, this high-level library was very strictly managed by the government and Interpol. It was not easy to buy info from the dead. But again, nothing was impossible. With its impact, WIC could always make exceptions.

“Say what? You think a 17-yearld-old girl like you can have a chance to win? You? Against those thugs?” Mahoney took another sip.

“Stacy is also a normal college student. I did some research. In this game history, the winners don’t actually win with physical strength”

“Yeah. Right. But those strong usually start the game with killing two thirds of the players”. Mahoney tried her best to prevent Hoa.

“I’ve never heard about any dead in any news. Like ever”, Hoa laughed.

Mahoney stood up. Her steps were a little bit uneven on the edge of the building which might only as wide as two palms combined. She opened her arms. The can from her hand lost its grip and fell fall the sky down to the street. The liquid inside was just splashing everywhere.

“You know that they have to bet. You know it, Hoa. If you don’t have any property, then you have to bet your life on it. But their lives aren’t valued to them. It’s their memories, their own brains, that they use as their bet item. And then when you lose, those WIC sons of bitches will come and drain your memories to the very last drop and make it other people’s memories. Do you have any idea what’s the end for those who lost their brain? Do you?”

Mahoney did not finish. She wanted her friend to fill it with the reality. But Hoa kept her head down in silence.

“It’s suicide”, Mahoney spoke up. “Within a year, there are over a hundred suicidal cases that happened right here, on this building. The blood is still there, on that street over there, no matter how many times it’s been washed. Their blood is still soaked in every brick, every single inch there. Don’t you see how beautiful it is? To have that bright red color?”

Mahoney turned round and round while saying those. Her tiny feet were dancing all over the place on those 30-centimeter-only-widen bricks. She laughed out loud, but eyes were just full of pain.

“Living without knowing who you are, forever not remembering your own name, can you even handle it?”

Hoa looked up at Mahoney. Deep down inside those blue eyes, there was this poor soul living under. She was Mahoney’s friend long enough to understand what she’s thinking at the moment.

“Mahoney, you can’t stand it anymore, can you?” Tears began to fall down from Hoa’s eyes. They’re both salty and bitter.

Mahoney stopped jumping around. She walked towards Hoa, kneeled down before her friend. Her fingers were reaching up to wipe off those tears from her best friend’s face. She threw her arms around that shaking body.

“You’re gonna join this time then?” Hoa bit her bottom lip, tried asking with all her courage.

“Yeah!”

Mahoney didn’t know how to escape from her own dark world. She cried out. Maybe, this bet could help her to find the light at the of the tunnel.