The 50: Post AI Apocalypse

A Deal with Gina

Everyone got the message of the date as they didn’t yet understand what was going on to be all transferred back in time. When they opened their eyes, they found themselves standing like usual, in a semi-translucent condition, the well known soul condition of the Drill.

“What the hell?!” Dan suddenly muttered as he was the first to look around himself. He expected to find himself standing in the middle of a barren land, however what met him wasn’t ruins or wilderness, it was a huge city bustling with people.

They appeared inside a large city, which was something unbelievable.

“D-Didn’t you say?” John looked around him as well as he whispered softly these words with disbelief.

“I know, I know, this is an unbelievable buddy. I must have made a mistake that helped us out,” Dan said as he was looking around him in daze.

“No you don’t,” suddenly this cold voice came abruptly from behind Dan to startle him. At the same time, John and Laiyla looked at each other again, as their minds had the same line of thoughts.

‘Here we go, she will unveil her mystery and secrets to us,’ this was what they both thought of.

However just before Dan could open his stupefied mouth from his own shock when his eyes fell upon Gina, a loud scream of fear appeared from behind the four.

This scream came from one of the students, which was very contagious as many began to weep and scream in fear and shock. The four understood what was going on, these students were in shock of what was happening to them right now.

They were supposed to be transferred to a place called Normandy in France. This place held some old historical value before, where humans killed each other for no reason.

However they were now moved to a time frame they knew it was so dangerous to be at. Many curious kids asked the scientists and teachers before about going back to when the apocalypse happened.

And the answer was always the same, no you couldn’t. they justified this answer by the risk of death if they moved to any date near this apocalypse. So, fear and panic was understandable, and that made Gina’s situation more awkward to the three.

Why didn’t she panic when Dan told her about the change in date? Why did she look so calm with no worry or doubt at all?

What happened next made the three more speechless, as Gina took couple of steps forward as she started to address everyone with her cold and clear voice:

“Listen up, this must be a mistake from the new Drill. Don’t panic, as no one had ever come here before, so we don’t know for sure what is going to happen.

Don’t forget, we are in the soul condition, so we can see, hear and touch everything, but nothing can affect us. No human can see us, so control your panic and have a good day here before we are moved back tomorrow.”

Her words were really strong, as she alone managed to calm down those frightened youths. John, Dan, and Laiyla exchanged silent glances with each other.

The Gina they knew wasn’t like this, she was always silent with nothing to be interested at. Just as the three were trying to figure out what was wrong here, Gina turned to look at them as she said:

“It’s time for us to go somewhere and speak.”

“Yes, we need to speak,” John said with a cold tone as he was so suspicious of her.

She glanced at him momentarily before she turned to go towards a distant street while saying:

“Fine, follow me then.”

The three exchanged silent glances again with worry and doubt in their eyes before they started to follow her. As for the others, it seemed they decided to stay where they were and not move for now.

The shock of moving to this time was still lingering in their souls, so their decision was natural and logical. The only suspicious here was that hovering around Gina was she really Gina or someone else impersonalized her? That was what the three were thinking of right now.

Gina moved across the crowded street heading straight towards a branched one. As she was in the soul condition, she was like a ghost, passing through crowds like they didn’t even exist.

The three friends followed her with solemn looks over their faces. They didn’t take long to reach the same conclusion, Gina knew more than they all had known.

The presence of this lively city wasn’t a surprise for her, just like the change in date info which she knew before coming here. As the four of them reached that street, Gina selected a coffee shop and sat on one of their empty tables in the open.

It was midday, so the people here were busy doing their jobs before their lunch breaks. John and the others sat directly over the other seats while looking straight towards Gina.

“I know you have a lot of questions in your mind, so do I. so I propose we do this, we answer questions mutually one by one, what do you think?”

Her bossy way in leading the conversation was strange on her usual personality, which made Dan couldn’t control himself any longer as he rushed to say:

“Who the hell are you?”

“I’m Gina, don’t you know me?” she simply replied like she didn’t get the point of Dan’s question.

“I know it’s you, from the surface, but your personality is way different than Gina I know,” Dan explained further what was bothering him.

“Gina you know? Dan, throughout the last couple of years you kept peeking at me without saying a single word. Is this how you know me?” she replied while leaning her back to the back of her seat to look more clearly towards Dan, whose face turned upside down once he heard her words.

“She is Gina, but I have to say you surprise us Gina,” John interfered to save his friend from this awkward situation.

“You are just a judgmental person to think you know me without even speaking with me,” she replied with her straightforward way while her eyes weren’t off yet from Dan.

“So, can we establish our mutual relation as you suggested?” Laiyla said, trying to help Dan as well.

“Sure, I will ask questions and you will answer them, and the same goes for you,” Gina replied as she then looked finally away from Dan as she added, “I want to know why did you change the date of our trip?”

John was the one who got the blame for her look this time, and he suddenly felt some tension. It was like this little girl here wasn’t little at all, but an adult who was interrogating them.

John now felt sympathy over his friend, as his situation was far worse than he expected.

“It’s simple, we were bored and decided to do something fun,” John replied.

“No, this isn’t just for fun. You took this matter so seriously, and no one will endanger himself just for fun, not the city dwellers like you,” Gina refused his reason as her look became more serious.

“City dwellers?” Laiyla muttered.

“It’s not your turn yet to ask questions, and from what I see you don’t take me seriously at all. If you don’t stop playing me fool, I will leave and never speak with you again.”

Gina threatening words had a heavy effect over Dan, as he rushed to say:

“Ok, I will tell you the truth.”

John and Laiyla turned sharply to look at their friend as they knew he was ready to say even his darkest secrets to her if she wanted to know.

However he already spoke up, and they couldn’t do anything about him.

“We learnt about something strange not long ago, so we decided to look deeper into other matters. That led us to the apocalypse and what really happened in it. so we decided to come here and see for ourselves,” Dan explained.

“What strange matter?” Gina asked with her plain face.

“It’s about the marrying hidden rule in our city, as we noticed people are matched by profession without any feelings at all. Even past lovers wouldn’t remember their love stories at all after being chipped, like they were ordered to do so. Don’t you think it’s strange?” Dan said, explaining further.