Mechanical: Prologue
So... um, ma second L4D2 fic. First simply being a PWP over on my Y account involving Ellis and some bottom!Nick on toppa Jimmy Gibbs Jr. So, I decided obviously that after doing one silly fic, that I was expert enough to tackle a huge huge writing project :D :D :D OBVIOUSLY YOU CAN'T DENY MY LOGIC AND AMAZINGNESS.
Joking aside, a few people knew of this ahead of time. Mainly Arborrelli cause she helped me talk it out and stuffs and proof-read. A few others, and I'm trusting you guys not to go ahead and be revealin things on me >:I Either way, from what I've been writing, it's gonna be a long one. And I'm interested in seeing what peoples reactions would be, even though the prologue really isn't that exciting. Even I'm not excited by the prologue. But hopefully it'll pique some people's intrests, even if it's only a bit. D: I'm not a great writer, specially not like most people on the L4D2 community, but I figured I should make my contribution. Anyway, enough rambling. Have a prologue. ((For the record, takes place in 2042, don't think I mentioned that in anything I've written so far)).
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Prologue
Mechanical
me·chan·i·cal: Lacking human qualities; done automatically or as if by a machine instead of a thinking and feeling human being
--------------------------------
Nick wasn’t impressed.
People had made the town sound far better than it was; and it had sounded pretty shitty to begin with.
It was painfully obvious he was in the country just by the cheap hotel he was in. The TV was a flat screen instead of the newer Holo-Screens that had become so popular. They simply projected the TV screen up in the air from a black cube; the old televisions were too bulky for most peoples tastes and often were of poor quality. On top of that, the mini-fridge was plugged in, and the bed didn’t even make itself. He had been surprised, with how out-dated the hotel was, that they even had any bots. It was a far cry from his apartment in Vegas. He had been reassured however, that the residents were easy to swindle. An entire town ripe for the pickings.
And they were stupid. Boy, were they stupid, Nick would give them that much. But unfortunately, the idiots had enough intelligence to know better than to trust ‘city folk’. Like him.
So it was bad enough he had lost 300 dollars that night to a couple of retard hillbillies, but a good dozen yards away from the hotel, his car decided that his night hadn’t been fucking fantastic enough. There was a weak wheeze before the radio station fizzled out into silence, the lights in the car blinking for a few moments before going black, the car jerking to a stop.
“Son of a bitch,” He gripped the steering wheel for a moment, fingers white before finally letting go and popping open the door so he could step out into the humid, Georgia air. Travelling through the south had been hell so far. He was used to heat, that he could deal with. But he wasn’t used to the moisture that made the air stagnant and heavy, like he was being suffocated. And that was on a good day. By the time he had gotten back in the car, having seen nothing wrong with the engine at first glance, he felt like he had just done a marathon with the way he was sweating. Nick was pretty sure that the white suit and blue dress shirt didn’t help, but he preferred the dressy attire over the casual outfits still in his suitcase.
Nick turned the key again, watching the lights flicker back to life and glow in the dark. But they shut off once more and his hope fell. When he tried the key a third time the car didn’t even respond, and he swore in frustration before stepping out of the car to push it into the storage lot of the hotel only a dozen feet away.
When morning came he made a call for someone to tow his car to the nearest mechanic, already having eaten a quick breakfast that one of the hotel service bots brought him.
“Don’ ya worry, sir, ah’ll ‘ave yer car all fixed up in no time,” the kid crowed, already prying open the hood in his eagerness to look inside. “Real nice car ya got here, 2039 Eclipse mustang, she’s a real beaut,” He leaned closer, further examining the wires and engine. “Look good and runs good too; surprised this baby’s even given ya any trouble!”
“Yeah, thanks,” Nick muttered, eyeing the boy with disinterest. A prime example of the citizens of Savannah Georgia. Curly hair shoved under a hat with a tow-truck on it, thick heavy boots, a work jumpsuit half-off and tied around his waist, grease up to the elbows, and a large, stupid grin as the cherry on top. “Look, can you just get in a bot to work on it so this moves a bit faster?”
The hick looked puzzled before giving a shake of his head. “We don’ use bots here, sir,” the worker gave a nod to the front door, where a sign that Nick hadn’t noticed earlier was hanging. “All works done by people. There’s a couple a folks tha’ don’ like bots, specially with tha virus goin roun’ and causin’ malfunctions and shit. Haven’ ya been listenin to tha news?”
“That’s still going around?” Nick had to admit he was surprised about that, even if he had only heard of it a few days earlier. “I thought CEDA would have figured out how it hacked into the bots already,” They were usually on top of things like that.
The mechanic gave a shrug. “Guess they’re havin some trouble,” he said simply, turning back to the car. “Jus’ let me look this baby over and I’ll figure out what’s wrong in no time.”
Nick studied him for a few minutes as the kid sifted through the inside of the car. Watching him, he had to admit that the kid knew what he was doing, seeming almost at home working with the automobile. Eventually though he called out for another co-worker to help him, someone named ‘Keith’. Another southerner that looked in his early or mid thirties, with bright red hair, a few teeth missing, a crooked nose, and some of the worst burn scars Nick had ever seen coating most of the visible skin. And that was only the burns. From what he could see, there were plenty more to go along with them.
Eventually though he looked away from the two mechanics that were testing the lights, instead focusing his attention on a small TV in the corner of the room. .The volume was rather low, but if he concentrated he could still hear it. There was a relatively young black woman was on screen, probably in her twenties, and definitely from the north. She didn’t have the southern drawl.
“… Center for Engineering and Dismantling of Artificial Intelligence, or as most people know them, CEDA, had been keeping a close eye on the virus that is currently spreading through America’s cyborgs-“ Who still called them cyborgs except for scientists? Cyborgs were supposed to think and feel like humans, bots didn’t. It was just a leftover term from the twenties. “-dubbed it the Green flu. CEDA has issued a warning saying that cyborgs displaying symptoms characterized of the green flu be immediately shut down and brought to the nearest CEDA station for dismantlement. However they wish to emphasize that there’s no reason to panic or worry, that the situation is well under control. Here is a list of signs to-“
“Uh, sir?”
Nick glanced away from the screen towards the first mechanic that he had been dealing with, who was wringing his dirty, oil-stained hands. That wasn’t a good sign. “Figure out what’s wrong with my car, Overalls?”
“It’s yer ignition coil,” He finally blurted out, gesturing to the open hood. “Ah mean, it’s not like yer engine’s shot or anythin’, but yer not going anywhere in tha’ car. Tha dealership ya bought it from must’a ripped ya off cause they replaced a buncha parts of your car with parts tha’ aren’ designed for this baby.”
Typical. He wanted to be pissed because of the fact that the guy he’d bought it from had swindled him out of probably a good four hundred dollars, but at this point he could only work up the energy to be mildly irritated. “Wonderful, and how much is this all going to cost me?”
The hick shrugged. “Not sure, I jus’ fix tha cars. But mah boss Keith is in the back righ’ now orderin’ the parts ya need ta replace. It’ll take a few days though, cause only the factories in the north have ‘em, and we’ve already been ‘aven trouble gettin’ shipments from them,” The mechanic grabbed a rag cloth nearby and started to wipe off the oil and grease from his arms. “Ah’ll drive yew back ta wherever yer stayin’, tha’ way ya don’ have ta walk. Least ah can do for ya.”
“Fine, just do what you need,” Nick grunted, watching the kid run off to find the other hillbilly that managed the business. He turned back to the TV he had been watching earlier, but the woman was gone off of the screen, and she had instead been replaced with static. He frowned, standing up and walking over to change the channel. Every time he flipped to a new channel however, he was met with nothing but more and more static. Finally he just turned off the TV and turned around to wait for the mechanic.
He bounced out soon enough, holding a set of keys in his hands and running over. “Why’s tha television off?” He questioned immediately, looking over the flatscreen as if expecting to find the problem immediately.
“The reception on your television’s for shit,” Nick was tapping his foot impatiently, arms crossed in front of his chest. “Now where’s your car?”
The hick frowned, obviously not satisfied with the answer he had been given. “It looks alright…” At Nick’s question though he lost interest in the blank screen, and instead looked back at him. “It’s right outside,” The mechanic reassured, already hurrying to the glass door leading outside.
“You mean the shitty pick-up truck?”
“Well, she’s a pickup truck, but she ain’t shitty,” The sight of the brown truck had Nick tempted to disagree. “Had this baby thirteen years, an’ she’s bout twenty six years older than tha’. Made all the way back in 2003. She came ta me barely able ta run, and now she’s like a dream.” While the paint wasn’t peeling off, it certainly wasn’t shining, and a multitude of tools were in the back, such as a car jack and a crowbar. None of it was organized and instead scattered freely about and without a care.
“Fascinating,” Nick drawled, sliding into the passenger seat while the mechanic started the car. The dark maroon cloth of the seats was hot from the sun that had been filtering in from the windows, the air stale.
“Ah know, right?” The kid chuckled, before looking over at him. “Hey, ah neva’ caught yer name. I jus’ tol’ Keith ta look for the guy in tha fancy white suit since, y’know, we don’ see a lot guys down here all dressed up an’ shit.”
Nick debated ignoring him before sighing. “Nick. My name’s Nick.”
“Nice tah meet ya Nick, mah names Ellis.”
Joking aside, a few people knew of this ahead of time. Mainly Arborrelli cause she helped me talk it out and stuffs and proof-read. A few others, and I'm trusting you guys not to go ahead and be revealin things on me >:I Either way, from what I've been writing, it's gonna be a long one. And I'm interested in seeing what peoples reactions would be, even though the prologue really isn't that exciting. Even I'm not excited by the prologue. But hopefully it'll pique some people's intrests, even if it's only a bit. D: I'm not a great writer, specially not like most people on the L4D2 community, but I figured I should make my contribution. Anyway, enough rambling. Have a prologue. ((For the record, takes place in 2042, don't think I mentioned that in anything I've written so far)).
-----------------------------------------
Prologue
Mechanical
me·chan·i·cal: Lacking human qualities; done automatically or as if by a machine instead of a thinking and feeling human being
--------------------------------
Nick wasn’t impressed.
People had made the town sound far better than it was; and it had sounded pretty shitty to begin with.
It was painfully obvious he was in the country just by the cheap hotel he was in. The TV was a flat screen instead of the newer Holo-Screens that had become so popular. They simply projected the TV screen up in the air from a black cube; the old televisions were too bulky for most peoples tastes and often were of poor quality. On top of that, the mini-fridge was plugged in, and the bed didn’t even make itself. He had been surprised, with how out-dated the hotel was, that they even had any bots. It was a far cry from his apartment in Vegas. He had been reassured however, that the residents were easy to swindle. An entire town ripe for the pickings.
And they were stupid. Boy, were they stupid, Nick would give them that much. But unfortunately, the idiots had enough intelligence to know better than to trust ‘city folk’. Like him.
So it was bad enough he had lost 300 dollars that night to a couple of retard hillbillies, but a good dozen yards away from the hotel, his car decided that his night hadn’t been fucking fantastic enough. There was a weak wheeze before the radio station fizzled out into silence, the lights in the car blinking for a few moments before going black, the car jerking to a stop.
“Son of a bitch,” He gripped the steering wheel for a moment, fingers white before finally letting go and popping open the door so he could step out into the humid, Georgia air. Travelling through the south had been hell so far. He was used to heat, that he could deal with. But he wasn’t used to the moisture that made the air stagnant and heavy, like he was being suffocated. And that was on a good day. By the time he had gotten back in the car, having seen nothing wrong with the engine at first glance, he felt like he had just done a marathon with the way he was sweating. Nick was pretty sure that the white suit and blue dress shirt didn’t help, but he preferred the dressy attire over the casual outfits still in his suitcase.
Nick turned the key again, watching the lights flicker back to life and glow in the dark. But they shut off once more and his hope fell. When he tried the key a third time the car didn’t even respond, and he swore in frustration before stepping out of the car to push it into the storage lot of the hotel only a dozen feet away.
When morning came he made a call for someone to tow his car to the nearest mechanic, already having eaten a quick breakfast that one of the hotel service bots brought him.
“Don’ ya worry, sir, ah’ll ‘ave yer car all fixed up in no time,” the kid crowed, already prying open the hood in his eagerness to look inside. “Real nice car ya got here, 2039 Eclipse mustang, she’s a real beaut,” He leaned closer, further examining the wires and engine. “Look good and runs good too; surprised this baby’s even given ya any trouble!”
“Yeah, thanks,” Nick muttered, eyeing the boy with disinterest. A prime example of the citizens of Savannah Georgia. Curly hair shoved under a hat with a tow-truck on it, thick heavy boots, a work jumpsuit half-off and tied around his waist, grease up to the elbows, and a large, stupid grin as the cherry on top. “Look, can you just get in a bot to work on it so this moves a bit faster?”
The hick looked puzzled before giving a shake of his head. “We don’ use bots here, sir,” the worker gave a nod to the front door, where a sign that Nick hadn’t noticed earlier was hanging. “All works done by people. There’s a couple a folks tha’ don’ like bots, specially with tha virus goin roun’ and causin’ malfunctions and shit. Haven’ ya been listenin to tha news?”
“That’s still going around?” Nick had to admit he was surprised about that, even if he had only heard of it a few days earlier. “I thought CEDA would have figured out how it hacked into the bots already,” They were usually on top of things like that.
The mechanic gave a shrug. “Guess they’re havin some trouble,” he said simply, turning back to the car. “Jus’ let me look this baby over and I’ll figure out what’s wrong in no time.”
Nick studied him for a few minutes as the kid sifted through the inside of the car. Watching him, he had to admit that the kid knew what he was doing, seeming almost at home working with the automobile. Eventually though he called out for another co-worker to help him, someone named ‘Keith’. Another southerner that looked in his early or mid thirties, with bright red hair, a few teeth missing, a crooked nose, and some of the worst burn scars Nick had ever seen coating most of the visible skin. And that was only the burns. From what he could see, there were plenty more to go along with them.
Eventually though he looked away from the two mechanics that were testing the lights, instead focusing his attention on a small TV in the corner of the room. .The volume was rather low, but if he concentrated he could still hear it. There was a relatively young black woman was on screen, probably in her twenties, and definitely from the north. She didn’t have the southern drawl.
“… Center for Engineering and Dismantling of Artificial Intelligence, or as most people know them, CEDA, had been keeping a close eye on the virus that is currently spreading through America’s cyborgs-“ Who still called them cyborgs except for scientists? Cyborgs were supposed to think and feel like humans, bots didn’t. It was just a leftover term from the twenties. “-dubbed it the Green flu. CEDA has issued a warning saying that cyborgs displaying symptoms characterized of the green flu be immediately shut down and brought to the nearest CEDA station for dismantlement. However they wish to emphasize that there’s no reason to panic or worry, that the situation is well under control. Here is a list of signs to-“
“Uh, sir?”
Nick glanced away from the screen towards the first mechanic that he had been dealing with, who was wringing his dirty, oil-stained hands. That wasn’t a good sign. “Figure out what’s wrong with my car, Overalls?”
“It’s yer ignition coil,” He finally blurted out, gesturing to the open hood. “Ah mean, it’s not like yer engine’s shot or anythin’, but yer not going anywhere in tha’ car. Tha dealership ya bought it from must’a ripped ya off cause they replaced a buncha parts of your car with parts tha’ aren’ designed for this baby.”
Typical. He wanted to be pissed because of the fact that the guy he’d bought it from had swindled him out of probably a good four hundred dollars, but at this point he could only work up the energy to be mildly irritated. “Wonderful, and how much is this all going to cost me?”
The hick shrugged. “Not sure, I jus’ fix tha cars. But mah boss Keith is in the back righ’ now orderin’ the parts ya need ta replace. It’ll take a few days though, cause only the factories in the north have ‘em, and we’ve already been ‘aven trouble gettin’ shipments from them,” The mechanic grabbed a rag cloth nearby and started to wipe off the oil and grease from his arms. “Ah’ll drive yew back ta wherever yer stayin’, tha’ way ya don’ have ta walk. Least ah can do for ya.”
“Fine, just do what you need,” Nick grunted, watching the kid run off to find the other hillbilly that managed the business. He turned back to the TV he had been watching earlier, but the woman was gone off of the screen, and she had instead been replaced with static. He frowned, standing up and walking over to change the channel. Every time he flipped to a new channel however, he was met with nothing but more and more static. Finally he just turned off the TV and turned around to wait for the mechanic.
He bounced out soon enough, holding a set of keys in his hands and running over. “Why’s tha television off?” He questioned immediately, looking over the flatscreen as if expecting to find the problem immediately.
“The reception on your television’s for shit,” Nick was tapping his foot impatiently, arms crossed in front of his chest. “Now where’s your car?”
The hick frowned, obviously not satisfied with the answer he had been given. “It looks alright…” At Nick’s question though he lost interest in the blank screen, and instead looked back at him. “It’s right outside,” The mechanic reassured, already hurrying to the glass door leading outside.
“You mean the shitty pick-up truck?”
“Well, she’s a pickup truck, but she ain’t shitty,” The sight of the brown truck had Nick tempted to disagree. “Had this baby thirteen years, an’ she’s bout twenty six years older than tha’. Made all the way back in 2003. She came ta me barely able ta run, and now she’s like a dream.” While the paint wasn’t peeling off, it certainly wasn’t shining, and a multitude of tools were in the back, such as a car jack and a crowbar. None of it was organized and instead scattered freely about and without a care.
“Fascinating,” Nick drawled, sliding into the passenger seat while the mechanic started the car. The dark maroon cloth of the seats was hot from the sun that had been filtering in from the windows, the air stale.
“Ah know, right?” The kid chuckled, before looking over at him. “Hey, ah neva’ caught yer name. I jus’ tol’ Keith ta look for the guy in tha fancy white suit since, y’know, we don’ see a lot guys down here all dressed up an’ shit.”
Nick debated ignoring him before sighing. “Nick. My name’s Nick.”
“Nice tah meet ya Nick, mah names Ellis.”