You knocked me out! Why! If you got fed up with me, just tell me to shut up, no need to knock me out like that. I wanted to see how your school was like, and meet your friends, but now I’ve missed it all.


    “I’ll tell you now then, shut up.”


    Ray couldn’t hold back anymore and said, Damn, is he flirting with you? How can—


    “Shut up.”


    “


    “Shut up and listen. Don’t ever joke with things like that.” “From now on, I’ll keep you asleep when I’m at school.”


    “


    That was all he said and Ray didn’t ask more. He could be blind as a bat, and fickle as the wind, but he was always perceptive to others’ emotions. AZ was too serious to not do as he said, and Ray understood he was too much. It was just that… he always told himself he was fine alone, and he did feel fine, it was easier to be by himself, people were too complicated. But then, when he had someone else to talk to, he was too ecstatic, too excited. He had Vorm to talk to, but Vorm always felt different, and he was just happy to be able to talk to another human without being seen, without crippling anxiety. How messed up, he thought to himself.


    They lay quiet in the dark, and it took a long time before they fell asleep.


    *


    Ray didn’t say anything the next morning, nor did he complain when AZ let him wake up after school. He stayed quiet throughout the day. He was patient, he watched, he listened, he observed as he was told. He had always been too focused on his inner world to pay attention to anything else, but now, he focused outwards, trying to see what AZ meant, and he felt AZ paid attention to look around more, letting Ray see.


    When AZ was lying in bed at night, he suddenly asked,


    There are no old people. I haven’t seen a single old person, that’s weird. Where are all the old people? Everyone is beautiful and handsome, it’s like everyone is perfect. That is also weird. Do the old, sick, not as beautiful people live separately? The birds seem weird as well. It’s like they really are watching. Maybe I’m just imagining it because of what you said and I’m biased, but even though people are smiling and laughing, it all seems strained, as if they were forcing themselves to act cheerful and hide their pain. I must be imagining it.


    “AAZ889 was pleasantly surprised by Ray’s perceptiveness, he wasn’t as silly and dumb as he seemed to be. Then he softly added, “


    Don’t you have weekends? I’ve been here for many days but each day is the same?


    “Weekends? What do you mean? Why wouldn’t each day be the same?”


    When do you rest?


    “Everyone rests in the evening and sleeps at night.”


    AZ kept him asleep even after school on that day. It was already evening when Ray was woken up. Here, evening only meant that the lights outside were turned off, and Ray had learnt a couple days ago that you were prohibited from going out after curfew. AZ was standing at his front door, clearly about to go out, but before Ray could ask anything


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    “Don’t ask, don’t speak,”


    He didn’t know what to say, so he said as a matter of fact,


    No, I don’t. Why?


    “He was defective, thus disposed of.”


    Defective? How? It was just a kid… a fucking kid! What the hell you mean defective?


    “Suspected homosexuality.”


    ...What? He was just a kid how do you even know that? No, that doesn’t even matter, why is it such a crime deserving of death? Why the fuck does it even matter? Who the fuck decided it? And why would you go along with this? How could you kill a child?!


    “Why are there no old people? Because they are disposed of. Why does everyone look perfect? Because of the defective ones are disposed of. Who decides it? The Grand AI that manages the city. By the way, those birds? Surveillance.”


    “The Grand AI is prohibited from killing humans, that is why we are used instead. Not only defective elements are removed, but the Grand AI matches suitable breeding partners based on genetics. However, one of the Grand AI’s directive is to give the human population as much freedom as possible, without impeding on the smooth management of the city. If your partner is deemed unsuitable, you can go through in vitro fertilization with suitable eggs, sperm. There’s a paternity and maternity test done on each newborn, just to make sure. If there is any problem, they are disposed of.”


    How this all came to be...?


    “We are taught that the surface was destroyed by humans, but before going extinct completely, they created the Grand AI. Now we live safely in this underground city, managed by the AI.”


    If the AI cannot kill, why does everyone go along with it?


    “Because even this illusory freedom would be taken away.”


    “You think I do this because I want to?”


    “Cases like tonight are the worst, it is easier when they scream and struggle. I’d like to at least say I know the exact number of people I’ve killed, but I don’t. Hundreds? Thousands? Does it even matter at this point? We are selected and are being trained from when we are six. After all the matchmaking and screening, there are still defective newborns, you know? My first was a deaf newborn. The second a blind one. After a couple one of those, you either lose your mind and became the defective one to be disposed of, or go numb to it all. We are even prohibited from killing anyone in their sleep. To train our mindset, they have to be awake and know their death came. As I grew up, my targets grew as well. Young, old, doesn’t matter, it’s all the same and the Grand AI watches us all.”


    How can humans live like this?


    “What humans? The last human has died long ago. We are nothing but sacks of flesh and bone.”


    Ray suddenly broke the silence. He himself didn’t know why he felt compelled to say this. He would’ve buried it all again if he could, but tonight, he couldn’t.


    I keep telling myself I was just wolf without my memories, but still, it’s eating away at me.


    Ray didn’t need AZ to answer, he just wanted to share with someone who would understand.


    “feel better, but at the end of the day, you killed them. Just as I killed them. We both are murderers, butchers. It’s either I die or they die. Maybe someday I’ll choose to die as well,” AZ paused, “why does it matter whether the girl was abused or not? Does being abused give the right to abuse others? It’s a cause, a reason, but it is no excuse.”


    Aren’t you contradicting yourself? On one hand you say we are murderers, no excuses, but on the other, it’s either they die or I die, as if we had no choice.


    “


    Neither do I.


    They didn’t know, there was no solution, but they felt comforted in each other’s company as they drifted off to sleep.