The 50: Post AI Apocalypse

John, Dan, and Laiyla

A long huge train-like aircraft hovered over the wilderness, moving with its huge body and four connected caravan-like parts without making a single sound.

It was like a giant metallic beast piercing through the sky full of gray clouds with great speed. The journey from Los Angeles to New York didn’t need more than one hour to be finished.

Inside that huge aircraft, over two hundred youths were sitting there without any impression over their faces except for excitement. These youths were going to experiment the Drill again, and this time it was on a wider scale that never happened before.

This was year five hundred and thirty six after the historical date, or as many preferred to say, AH.

The youths were all younger than eighteen without exception. This journey was their first out of the high, strongly defended walls of their beloved city, Los Angeles, which became the heart of the modern world known to humanity.

Inside the third caravan, three youths sat next to each other, their heads were gathered like they were one. They were discussing something with soft voices, like a small conspiracy of their usual.

One was John, his mother died last year from an attack that targeted her research unit outside the walls of the city. He was tall and handsome, so he was pretty popular in his school.

Next to him was Daniel, or Dan as he was usually called from his two friends. His father died two years ago when he was doing a routine check over a nearby patrol tower outside the walls of the city. He also died out of the attack.

Dan was shorter, brighter, and somehow had his own visions and opinions that made him acquire the nickname crazy or nerd without competition.

The third of this little gang was Laila, or La like Jon liked to call her, or Aila like Dan loved to joke with her. She was the kind and passionate one, and also the most reckless one here shoulder to shoulder with John.

The three sat there from the beginning of the journey talking about the recent development of their adventure in the drill, as after all this was the first time doing so outside the walls of their city.

“I’m telling you, this looks pretty weird and suspicious,” John said as he looked outside his window to see the extended empty lands beneath them. they were in the middle of nowhere, which was something strange and scary to any citizen of the blessed cities.

This world had passed through a huge disaster five hundred and thirty six years ago, which turned out later to be the historical date of what was left out of human civilization.

After that date, only known big cities survived this calamity and after that huge walls were built to protect these cities. World outside these walls was full of ruins and dangers, plus lurking evils waiting in ambush for any faults from the human side.

What exactly happened wasn’t known to anyone, as there was a whole year lost from the records of history. This year was known as the dark year, as the three little gang used to describe it as the black hole year.

What made John pretty suspicious was the fact they used to experience the Drill inside the walls of their beloved city, Los Angeles. Right now they had to travel from west to east, passing through a large piece of wilderness to step their feet on totally unknown land just to use it again.

That was pretty much suspicious for him, especially for an impulsive reckless youth like him.

“Don’t be this worried, I told you this is a newly built town for the Drill alone. I heard my mom describing it to one of her work friends. The Drill we experienced so far was just a prototype, and the one we are heading to will be the real deal,” Dan replied.

“C’mon, we never stepped outside the walls of our city in our entire lives, and now we are let to be sent away like this? Listen to me man, I’m telling you something is fishy about it,” John argued back as he wasn’t convinced with Dan’s reason.

“Believe him or not, we are heading towards that town right now. You two need to stop using this lowly class language here, or else if anyone hears you we will all get into trouble,” Laila suddenly said with her soft sweet voice.

“C’mon, you too love using this language, besides our own high and sophisticated language depends upon English,” Dan said.

The surviving world had a new language of its own, which was called the transcendent language. Any other language from the era before the historical date was considered a lowly language, a disgrace for anyone using it and he might get in trouble for using it.

“Trouble is fun, and you love fun as much as I do, or else why will I fall in love with you?” John said with a grin from ear to ear. Laila couldn’t help herself to knock him in the chest with her elbow as she said:

“I told you, love isn’t everything in life. Who knows after the chipping ceremony will we be together or else.”

John looked deeply in her eyes as he touched her soft skin of her face, pushing away a handful of astray curly light brown hair of hers as he softly muttered:

“Don’t say that, you know I hate it when you say these words.”

Laila’s face turned at once as her nose became tainted with faint redness while saying with embarrassment:

“Y-You know this is true. Didn’t the two of you speak about that accident between your father and mother a long time ago? Who knows what will happen to us!”

It was John’s turn for his face to change, as he silently glanced sideways towards Dan with a blaming look. One month ago, John and Dan stumbled upon an old record of John’s father and Dan’s mother when they were at school.

They were young and energetic, like a miniature version of their sons. In the record, the two confessed their love to each other and pledged to get married later on.

This didn’t happen, so the two of them returned to their homes as they started to dig for more information. The surprise was that John’s father and Dan’s mother had a fuzzy memory about this accident, and they even asked about the record.

Next day there was a sudden inspection at their school, and the old forgotten room underground which the two had found the other night became clean of anything like it was ruined a long time ago.

This accident shocked the three for a while; however Laila didn’t let this go from her mind. She was convinced that everything was related to the chipping ceremony, and after that she and John wouldn’t be lovers anymore.

Chipping ceremony was sacred in the modern civilized remnant cities all over the globe. It occurred when youths completed eighteen years, as a grand party would be held and all youths would be chipped.

All people inside the last cities of humans were chipped, except for youngsters below the chipping age. This chip unlocked much potential for humans, and linked them to the main network that regulated everything in this age.

Did you have a memory problem? The chip could help you solve this problem. Did you lack speed? Strength? Learning the necessary skill? The chip would do it for you.

Simply put, this chip unlocked the unused parts of the human brain and helped humans to reveal their true potentials and cover up any possible weaknesses.

The gift was all loved to call it, however for the three currently sitting there they were eying that day with fear and doubt.

Love could conquer anything, even the temptation for a better life and guaranteed future.