Ghost in the Machine (Cybershock)

"Rule number one: Run from the Shadows. Unless one knows the secret that will save you. "

A "Cybershock" Story

I live in a world of waifs and shadows. "Live" might be an overstatement. I scrounge and scramble and survive in an atmosphere made thick and gray by the ashes of the Fallen. And sometimes I dream of sunlight. My parents were taken, even though they followed all the rules. Never scavenge at night. Never talk to Shadows. Don t fight the Sweepers. Run. Run. Run.

Now that they ve taken my little brother, Douglas, I ve realized I ve only been surviving for him. I have two choices: Follow him or lie down and die. I can t just quit after years of struggle. I wouldn t know how if I tried. Determination is all I have left.

And then I meet "him."

He claims to be a rogue who can help me find my brother. It s got to be a lie. But I don t run. I stop. I listen. And I make a deal with a Shadow even though I know it will mean the death of me.

"Never talk to Shadows."

But no one ever told me what would happen if I kissed one.

Warning: May cause fantasies of forbidden kisses from dark heroes who balance on the edge of evil. Where shadows wait and ashes fall