Mav stood at the mouth of the alley, deep shadows covering almost everything in an inky black. The stars and one of the three moons shined through the crystal dome miles above the city.

  The weight of his sword in his hand caught his attention and he sheathed his weapon.

  “Scara said to not go into the alley’s at night.” His AI, Jeebz, rang in his mind. Well, he called him an AI, nobody with any level of scanner had been able to find the AI chip though.

  “Yeah, I know.” Mav was extending his senses, straining them down the dark passage.

  “Scara said things go bump in the night.” Jeebz announced, reinforcing its point.

  Mav’s perception skills, only level 4, couldn’t detect anything down there, but he was certain he’d seen the creature make this turn.

  “Jeebz, enhancement.” He ordered his AI. A moment later he could feel an energy, with a texture of honey, spread over his head and hears. It wasn’t there, but it certainly felt like it was.

  Mav’s HUD popped up and in the corner a blip notification displayed in green text, which slowly faded over a few seconds.

  [Psionic: Body Discipline

  Raw Energy Cost: 5

  Raw Energy Available: 3

  Life Energy Burned: 2

  Perception Bonus: +5]

  The alley changed color and Mav could see beyond the shadows, further into the passage. He heard something rub against something else. A foot against wet cement.

  But it was the smell that took him by surprise, the garbage smell exploded in his nostrils. He became distinctly aware of the torn bags of rotting food.

  Mav eased his way down the alley, Jeebz chastising him for being brash.

  “Will you shut the fuck up? I’m trying to hear.” Mav whispered. The AI vanished from his mind, giving him a semblance of clarity, at least for the moment.

  Stepping over trash he moved slowly, hoping his level was high enough to not reveal himself to the mob that he’d been chasing. A Bludy. A creature that was not capable of surviving on it’s own, but had to Life Drain others to resupply it’s own Life Energy.

  Mav came to a tee intersection and stopped, closing his eyes and focusing on the hearing, a moment later he heard a “bum bum, bum bum”, a heart beat, not his own. And it was to his right.

  He eased his way down the alley and stopped at a large metal box, a dumpster from his memories on Earth. The end of the alley, at least in the this direction, was right beyond the trash box. A gap, not large, between the dumpster and the end wall of the alley.

  “You know, the new ones are more dangerous than the older ones. They are too irrational to even talk with.” It was a respectful decibel level this time from Jeebz.

  Mav looked around, the dumpster was the only thing at this end. Looking at the dumpster he decided on what his first thought had been.

  “Boost.” He commanded and he felt adrenaline pump into his body, his HUD flashing temporarily.

  [Psionic: Body Discipline

  Raw Energy Cost: 10

  Raw Energy Available: 3

  Life Energy Burned: 7

  Strength Bonus: +10

  Duration: 10 minutes]

  The adrenaline he could feel his heart and quickly spread. He stood before the dumpster and kicked it as hard as he could. His strength was already pretty high, but a +10 brought it up to a 35. The result splashing the Bludy out around the edges, apparently it had just eaten, popping like a tick.

  Stolen story; please report.

  “Gross.” Jeebz commented. Mav sneered at the mess. He didn’t want to loot it. But he had to.

  He pulled the dumpster back, the wheels squealing on unlubricated metal rollers. He stepped around and took a peak at the damage. The Bludy had been clearly crouched down on its tiptoes, now the face had a split down the front where the brains had been squished out its broken face, the shoulders had been the culprit there, forced up and into the sides of its head by the wall and dumpster. The chest cavity was exploded out the front, and back. Streamers of goo between the wall and dumpster from various forms of offal.

  This was probably the nastiest kill he’d seen in a while.

  “They are soft when they are new. Their body still going through a genetic alteration, everything is malleable in the beginning.” Jeebz reported. Mav just blinked.

  A plastic tube, next to the ruptured torso, in the things chest pocket, caught Mav’s attention. Focusing on the plastic tube forced the HUD to come up.

  [Loot

  Type: Plastic Tube

  Contents: Unknown]

  He picked the tube out of the mess and popped the top off. Inside was a syringe wrapped in some paperwork. He read it.

  Experimental! Genetic Engineering. This item is in an unknown state, results may vary.

  He looked at the syringe, it was a mixture of what looked to be bright red blood and some black oil that didn’t seem to mix, but swirled around each other.

  “Jeebz, can you tell what it is?” He asked his AI.

  “Yeah, likely blood and some black shit.”

  Mav looked at the rest of the mess and decided that going through the corpse wasn’t worth it. Vampires died just like everyone else. Killing them was usually hard, but they would die with enough damage.

  Mav turned back to where he’d come. He needed to get out of the alley’s, there were usually monsters in these areas, especially at night, when they can roam without being easily seen.

  “Do you still have the contact info for that genetics guy?”

  “Dr. Philo?” Jeebz asked.

  “Yeah, that’s the one.” Mav put the contents back into the plastic tube and pocketed it on his way out.

  “Yes, I have the coordinates. Not too far from here, actually.” Jeebz said cautiously. “Why?”

  Mav didn’t answer at first. He’d just come out on the street. The morning would come soon enough, twenty minutes or so at a guess.

  “He’s a geneticist. This is a syringe full of blood.”

  “Philo does not like you, Mav.” Jeebz said.

  “Philo loves me! We go way back! What are you talking about?” He turned and began walking down the busy street. Getty City was always busy. It reminded him of New York, but instead of them crying about coal and global warming, everything was powered by fusion, dirty fusion. Most people had at least one extra toe. But nobody complained, not a bunch of pussies.

  “Philo caught you banging his daughter”

  “She was of consensual age.” He argued.

  “It was her birthday!” Jeebz retorted.

  It was a good point. Though, she had instigated it, she’d been planning it for years. Whenever he’d come over to see Philos for information on a blood sample, or other research, she was always there, mini skirts, winking, biting her lip. But she was Hornian, like her father. They had a genetic command to expand their species. It wasn’t his fault!

  “It wasn’t my fault. She’s a Hornian, they have those glands or whatever.” He defended.

  “I saw alright. POV sucks.” Jeebz chided.

  “You think he’s over it?” Mav asked.

  “You’re joking, right!?” Jeebz screamed in his head. “You were nutting as he came in!” Jeebz was audibly grumbling. “Is he over it?” Jeebz mocked.

  Mav stopped on the sidewalk and looked at the store to his right. Its lights were on. On the shelf, behind the clerk, among all the rows of smokes, he saw one: Marlboro, Menthol.

  He blinked. He hadn’t seen that brand in over four hundred years, and almost five thousand light years away. Made him think about Earth, and that crazy experience, trapped in the computer program. Its’ where his HUD had come from. Where the levels and experience came from. His whole universe, his whole life, had completely changed when he’d finally escaped.

  He went in and bought the cigarettes. The clerk put them on the counter and he picked them up. “Twelve credits.”

  “Fuck, are you serious?” He looked at the clerk incredulously. “Twelve?”

  The clerk shrugged and extended her arm with the credit reader in her hand. Mav tapped his credit chip against the plate and the “ting” sound confirmed the purchase.

  He stepped outside, pulled a stick out and lit it and took a drag. He tilted his head back, “Fuuuuuck! That’s good.” he said, exhaling the smoke, the menthol sensation spreading through his lungs and mouth.

  “Mav.” Jeebz said.

  “Yeah?” He took another drag.

  “Your status changed.” Jeebz reported

  Mav pulled up his HUD and looked at his status. Poisoned. There was a timer next to it, thirty seconds.

  “God damnit.” He flicked it and crushed the cigarettes in his other hand.

  “Marlboro?” Jeebz hinted.

  “Yeah, fucking Marlboro.” He quickly reached over and opened the taxi door and sat in.

  “Look, keep driving until I wake up. I don’t care if it’s two fucking days. I’ll pay it. Just drive.” Mav ordered the man. He tapped the credit chip against the reader and transferred four hundred credits. “Down payment.” The weight of the mind began to impinge.

  “Uhh. Okay?” The taxi lifted and took off into the sky.

  “Marlboro.” He looked out the window, the ground falling away.

  Leaving his coherent mind behind. He began to hear things, his thoughts blending together. The last thing Mav felt was gravity shifting, or he was falling.