1 Chapter 1 (Part 1)

"Where the hell am I?" Alex struggled to keep standing, trying to make sense of how he ended up in this place. The last thing he remembered was the voice of a woman, unfamiliar yet somehow deeply familiar to his heart. The boy tried to sort through his conflicting feelings, feeling a growing buzz in his head.

The child collapsed again, curling up in a fetal position. His hands clutched his head in a desperate attempt to quell another surge of sharp pain. A cacophony of sounds and smells invaded Alex's mind, bringing new streams of information that had a detrimental effect on the boy's exhausted body.

"It hurts..." The child whispered, twitching again, trying to take a shallow breath.

Not knowing what to do, the boy crawled back to the dumpster, seeking to hide from prying eyes, squeezing between the wall and the metal container. An obsessive thought raced through his mind - "I need to hide" - and he decided to stick to it. As Alex's hands found the cold stone of the concrete wall, he carefully leaned his face against it, trying to tuck his uncooperative body underneath himself. His trembling legs were extremely reluctant, but after a couple of dozen seconds, the boy let out a relieved breath, once again wincing from the nauseating smells. A slowly rising lump in his throat forced the boy to bend over again and rid himself of the remains of his dinner.

For several more minutes, Alex cleared his stomach of the remaining food, and when it was over, the child continued to silently strain his diaphragm, unable to stop such an unpleasant action. Eventually, his strength completely left him, and he once again lost consciousness, falling face-first into the puddle that had formed under the dumpster.

***

The next awakening was much more pleasant. The youth slowly opened his eyes, squinting in pain from the neon lights reflected in the water. The boy's sensitive hearing immediately picked up approaching voices, moving straight towards him. "I need to hide somewhere else!" The thought came naturally, and following his instincts, Alex crawled towards the nearby boxes that could conceal the child's slender body from prying eyes.

"Why did the boss make us rummage through the trash?! Goro got rid of her body, so he should be the one fetching them from the dumpsters!" complained the raspy voice of an unfamiliar person who didn't like being forced to do dirty work for others.

"Shut up, Min. Be thankful that BioTech's goons didn't come after our heads. Have you heard the news? Some cyberpsycho wiped out a squad of corpo thugs and a MaxTech platoon yesterday. He almost made it to BioTech's office, but unfortunately, he was stopped by Adam Smasher," another unknown person smirked as he mentioned "Smasher's" name with a hint of admiration.

"You're kidding! The chief of Arasaka decided to lift his lazy ass and deal with some psycho? He won't even lift his ass unless it's in his contract," scoffed Min, opening the lid of a garbage container. "Damn, it stinks so bad; I feel like throwing up. Listen, Van, are there supposed to be two bodies?"

"Mother and son, Goro mentioned two pieces of meat," Van confirmed with a nod.

"I hate to disappoint you, but there's only a woman here. The boy's body disappeared," the Asian man said thoughtfully as he pulled out the woman's body with some effort.

"Step back," the Chinese man roughly pushed his partner aside and turned on his flashlight, illuminating the inside of the dumpster. "Freaking garbage collectors. They probably snatched the body," he hissed angrily and slammed the iron lid shut. "Well, it's not our problem. The important thing is that the woman is still here. Musshi said we could get a lot of eddies on the black market for her body. Seems like she's from that damn Arasaka family," Van grinned, clearly deriving pleasure from another member of that cursed clan meeting their end.

"Listen, if she's the same Arasaka, why haven't they sent a special forces squad to sweep the entire area within a few hundred meters?" Min asked a valid question.

"Because you're an idiot, Min. Look here," the Asian pointed at the connectors on her neck, two of which were currently occupied. "See, chombatta, I've seen these before; they block the GPS signal, making it impossible to track the target. 'Trash collectors' often use them when they take another corporate pawn hostage," the Chinese man boasted of his knowledge.

"Hmm, so it's better not to touch her," the Korean nodded to his thoughts.

"It's a miracle, I finally heard a smart thought from you, choomba ," Van sneered.

"Go to hell," Min grabbed the woman's body and dragged her towards the clinic.

***

"Attention, a system malfunction detected..."

Alex was irritated by the persistent message flashing before his eyes, which he had been trying to dismiss for a whole minute. 

"Just close already!" he thought exasperatedly, frowning at the blinking letters before him.

After a clear mental command, the message finally disappeared. Sighing with relief, Alex cautiously peeked outside to check if anyone was nearby. At first glance, the place seemed utterly deserted, except for a couple of kids who had sprinted past, fleeing from a homeless man. Alex couldn't think of a different way to describe him.

"Great spot," Alex thought and pulled the box back over himself. "So, what's the situation now? I'm a kid — that's first. I'm in an unknown location — that's second. And finally, I'm being searched for. It's no coincidence that a couple of thugs are hanging around here, discussing the corpse of a woman, who seems to be the mother of this child I'm currently in," he reflected. His thoughts were interrupted by more screams nearby, clearly indicating that someone was about to be killed.

The boy desperately wanted to leave this place as soon as possible. Rising slightly, he cautiously poked his head out and quickly looked around. This time there was no one, which worked in the child's favor. Carefully emerging, Alex pinched his nose, again assaulted by the overpowering stench of the garbage dump. The rain-soaked sleeve of his jacket helped block out the smells as he confidently left his temporary shelter.

First, he needed to decide where to go. From what Alex had overheard, his mother was apparently related to a local bigwig who had been killed. The child was most likely being actively searched for, but it was better to hide somewhere far from prying eyes for now. Any dry place with no people or animals around would do. The boy didn't want to get too close to rats, which shared similar desires with him...

Alex had no idea that most animals in this world had perished over half a century ago. Epidemic outbreaks had decimated the majority of the planet's fauna. Those lucky enough to survive the first wave died a bit later. Birds have lasted the longest, but it's only a matter of time before they meet the same fate. This world has long been on the brink of extinction, and the endless struggle for resources is only hastening its inevitable end.

"Just like that, slowly," the boy muttered to himself, trying to stay on his stiff legs. His body had been inactive for about twenty hours, affecting his already unfavorable condition. "If I'm still asleep, then this is a damn realistic dream..." Peering out onto the main street, Alex was shocked to see neon signs of a futuristic city, his mouth slightly agape in amazement. The passersby seemed ordinary, but his keen vision immediately noticed something unusual. Metal, a large part of the local population was adorned with iron protruding from their bodies everywhere. Faces, arms, torsos, even legs.

At that moment, some kind of flying transport whizzed by in the sky, hitting the boy with a wave of cold air. Startled once again, Alex regained his composure and decided to dive into another alley, trying to avoid being seen on the open street. A little ragamuffin without parents would raise suspicion, and Alex needed not to draw attention to himself. His adult consciousness was screaming this at him.

After a few minutes of wandering, the boy finally found something resembling a temporary shelter. There was, however, a small problem. Getting in would be quite a challenge. The basement grate was too sturdy and narrow. He couldn't break it or squeeze through. "I need to try to find another way in," he thought. After circling the building, Alex couldn't find any entrance. The basement door was locked with an electronic lock. His attempt to guess the code was unsuccessful. After entering the wrong password three times, he decided not to tempt fate and moved away from there.

As he walked, besides the unbearable stench, to which the young brunette had somewhat acclimated, and the excessively loud hum, Alex began to feel hungry. Nearby were vending machines with various snacks, but buying something was not an option. They required money, which the boy did not have. Of course, he could try to find some metal rod and steal a few packs of chips, but unfortunately, there was no suitable metal piece nearby.