I found Eric behind a wall on the far side of the motor pool, smoking with a couple of other teenagers like they owned the place.

  Earlier, we had shifted the remaining vehicles out into the open so the big garage could become a makeshift dorm, and now the whole area felt strange. The motor pool was still the motor pool, but it also was not. The air smelled like damp canvas, sweat, old engine oil, and smoke that clung to everything no matter how many times you tried to breathe it out.

  The moment they saw me, the kids scrambled and tried to hide their cigarettes.

  Normally, I would have cared. Normally, I would have done the whole adult scolding thing, or at least told them to stop being idiots. Tonight, it felt like a ridiculous line to draw. The world had ended and monsters were real. Underaged smoking barely registered.

  “Eric,” I said, pointing at him. “I need to talk to you. Alone.”

  I tilted my head at the rest, signaling them to get lost. They shuffled away, throwing annoyed looks over their shoulders, but they listened. Eric stayed put, watching me with that teenage mix of defiance and suspicion. If I was honest, there was also worry in his face. He did not know what I was about to ask, but he clearly knew it was not going to be something normal.

  I lit a cigarette. Partly because I needed it, and partly because it was easier to talk to someone when you looked like you were not about to explode.

  I pulled the upgrade module out of my inventory and held it out to him.

  “Do you know what this does?”

  He hesitated, then took it.

  The change in him was instant, like a switch flipped the moment his fingers touched the metal. His eyes sharpened and lit up, and he started turning the module over and over in his hands, muttering quietly to himself. When he finally looked up again, he still was not looking at me. His gaze kept flicking left and right, up and down, like he was reading a dozen invisible screens.

  Then my HUD pinged.

  Eva: Are you sure this is wise, Chris? Are we letting him in on this?

  Chris: You should have thought of that before you gave me something that needs a Technomancer to use. I thought you AIs were smart.

  Eva went quiet after that, shutting down the way she did whenever she decided she was offended.

  Eric kept scrolling through whatever he was seeing, jaw clenched, cigarette burning down between his fingers. When he finally stopped, he handed the module back like it had suddenly become heavier.

  He looked frightened now.

  “I… I don’t know if you should install that,” he said, lighting another cigarette like he needed something to do with his hands. “It can be very dangerous.”

  “How dangerous?” I asked, keeping my tone calm even though my stomach had already tightened.

  “Very,” he said flatly, then took a deep drag before he continued. “But I’m not stupid. I know what you’re trying to do with it. And it’s not going to work the way you think it will. You need to be really close to the control center, and I can’t trace where it is until you install it.”

  The word control center hit me like a cold splash of water.

  “But can you do it?” I asked anyway, because I needed to hear him say it.

  I put a hand gently on his shoulder, trying to reassure him. He looked like he was one sharp word away from bolting, and after today, I did not want to push anyone over the edge.

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  He finally met my eyes and nodded.

  “I can,” he said, then added quickly, “but not on you. And definitely not on that tracker you’re wearing. It needs something with its own power supply, and it needs an OS to run it. This is only the hardware.”

  I stared at him for a moment, letting that sink in.

  He shrugged like he could tell I was not following fast enough, then tried to explain it in normal-world terms.

  “It’s like having a laptop without Windows or Linux. The hardware is all there, but it’s useless until someone installs an operating system.”

  I exhaled slowly because I already knew where this was going.

  There was no Windows in this world. There was no Linux. There were no downloads, no repair shop, no IT guy you could call. There was only one thing that behaved like an operating system now.

  The system.

  And Eva.

  The moment the thought formed, I felt it. A small stirring presence behind my eyes, like someone shifting in the dark to listen closer. Eva did not say anything, but she was there.

  “Fine,” I said carefully. “I’ll handle the OS. What can we install this on?”

  Eric looked away from me and scanned the line of parked vehicles like he was hunting for something he could feel instead of see. He started walking, one arm held out slightly, and I followed a step behind, letting him do his thing.

  “All of these vehicles have onboard computers,” he said, pointing to the ambulances and fire trucks parked in the open. “They receive emergency broadcasts. They sync to the central control room. They update and report.”

  I nodded, thinking about the consoles and screens I had seen, the wiring tucked behind panels, the little systems designed to survive panic and chaos.

  Then my eyes landed on our truck.

  The Grave Digger.

  And something clicked in my head, not as a plan yet, but as a direction.

  I had been a marine engineer before a fall and a bad back had forced me into a desk job, but I had enough electrical training to know what was possible. If an ambulance had the right console, then it might be able to live inside the Digger instead. I told Eric what I was thinking, expecting him to tell me it was impossible.

  Instead, he rolled his eyes like I had suggested doing it with duct tape.

  “My friends and I can do that,” he said. “You don’t need to touch anything.”

  That surprised me more than it should have.

  “Okay,” I said, nodding. “Do it in the morning. Tell me how long you need.”

  He nodded, already half turned away, and went off to find his friends.

  I hated what I had to do next, but I did it anyway.

  I added Eric to our party.

  I needed a way to talk to him quickly, and I did not want to spend tomorrow sprinting around the settlement hunting down a teenager every time something changed.

  The moment I sent the invite, Shawn pinged me privately.

  Shawn: Who the fuck is Eric?

  Chris: He’s a Technomancer. I need him. He’s running upgrades for our truck. Where the hell are you?

  Shawn: In the cemetery. Just taking a walk.

  A blinking indicator flashed over the Four Horsemen chat group, so I switched over.

  Jess: Guys, what’s going on? I’m trying to sleep. And who’s Eric?

  Siva: Is everything ok?

  Shawn: You know you can mute chats right?

  I sighed. Since everyone was awake now, I told them to meet me, and we would link up with Shawn at the cemetery entrance. It was time I brought them into what I was planning anyway, and I was not looking forward to the conversation.

  I took the truck and drove over to the gazebo. Jess climbed in half-asleep, muttered something that sounded like a threat, and then immediately passed out across the back seat. Siva grinned like this was all amusing to him and took the passenger seat.

  It was a short drive to the cemetery entrance. Shawn was already there, walking out to meet us. I signaled for him to get in and ne climbed into the back, gently shifted Jess’s legs so they rested across his lap, and sat down with a long exhale.

  We drove further into the cemetery and stopped at a sheltered rest stop, one of those little covered areas where workers used to take breaks. The truck’s floodlights threw harsh white light across the stone tables and benches, and with that kind of brightness, the cemetery did not feel spooky at all.

  We dragged Jess out, still sleepy and now half-protesting, and got her over to the benches. I wanted a cigarette badly, but one look at her face told me it was not worth the argument.

  “Okay,” Shawn said, leaning forward. “Spill it.”

  I opened my mouth, ready to start, but Jess suddenly stopped yawning mid-breath and sat upright so fast it startled me. She stared straight at me, eyes sharp despite how tired she looked.

  “What?” I asked warily.

  “Why does it say you have a parasite in you?” she asked.

  Shawn and Siva turned slowly to look at me.

  My HUD pinged again.

  Eva: I am NOT a parasite. How dare she call me that.

  “Uh…” I started.

  Then I did the only thing I could do.

  I told them about the watch. I told them about Eva. I told them about Eric. I told them about the module and what it might let us do.

  And as the words left my mouth, I realized there was no taking any of it back now.

  Writer's view

  by Heukryong