Silence was soothing the night of those campus grounds. No critters were rustling about, no owls hooting and no winds blowing away. Nothing other than a deafening, cold, silence.
Except from the computer lab that our friend was working in. The room was resounding of keyboard strokes. The computer was one of those Panels 7 desktops that were released ages ago. So there's almost always a ruckus. Even if it was just starting up the machine.
In contrast to any well maintained device, this neglected piece of plastic, needed a handful of love-packed jabs to remind it that it's being used.
"Smack the CPU if the PC slows down. Hit the keys hard if you want to type. And wait a whole minute after clicking something."
Those, were the words of wisdom left by the seniors that braved the lab years before. As embarrassing as it should sound like, the lab assistants tried their best so students won't be able to read such remarks.
But in vain. The words were written by a permanent marker on any place it could be written on. The back of the monitors, the side of the CPUs and, devotedly, the bottom of the mice. They thought of hiding the 'glyphs' under a layer of paint, once. But decided against it after they realized that they did more good than harm, it fended off the students that would ask for their help. They blamed it on the budget and let it go.
CLACK-CLACK-CLACK
Using his index fingers to slam at the rigid keys and type his commands, the student continues to break the silence in the room. That is, if you ignore the grinding hums of the processor as it blew dust puffs away.
"Damn iiii~t! Why are all free things SO hard to get?!!!"
Kevin complained. Seething as he continues to read through the guidelines of the documentation of a Linux distro. An Operating System free for all and doesn't require much from the old plastic shell he is using now. About 500MB of RAM on average.
It requires quite the steps to follow but, should one follow them correctly, the rewards were just as much as the effort paid for them, if not more.
"Finally!~ Now all that's left is installing the applications I want ." He said finally reaching a stage he continually failed to reach.
"But first, let's update this thing."
[sudo apt update]
He typed in the gibberish-like commands just before the black screen began raining white words. He was absolutely dumbfounded the first time he began through the process.
It was almost impossible to remember which series of commands to use in which case. But in the end, as for anything else in life, and after going through it repeatedly, he was able to wrap his head around it. And barely at that.
He went on to the second step after the words ended coming and all stat checks were at \[100%]. The real test. If this goes without a hitch, then the rest would be safe sailing.
"Here we go!"
[sudo apt upgrade -y]
The moment he typed in those words, again, the black screen began raining the white words saying things like 'Unpacking...' and all that jargon. After the verbal rain stopped, the plants began to grow. (Just kidding) The system began installing the packages one by one after they were done unpacking. Indicating the progress with a green progress bar.
"Finally!~ The color of life!!" Kevin exclaimed.
It was quite a troublesome chore indeed. And he went through a lot of challenges. Sometimes he almost finished setting up the whole thing just to realize his next step needs a tool that should have been downloaded at the very beginning.
Other times he makes missteps that make the whole thing go disarray. Forcing him to delete what he's done, since he has no idea how to mend what he broke. And begin from square one all over again. But not this time.
He stepped out to get some fresh air after the milestone he reached. He began strolling about after locking the lab after himself. The campus grounds were in the furthest parts of the city. On the outskirts. There were no cars honking, no clubs bustling nor any disturbance of any kind. Just the casual howling of animals. Whatever they might be.
'Hyenas, probably.'
...
CLACK-CLACK-CLACK!!
His steps resounded in the dark. Sleep haunted his very soul as he swayed left and right like a drunkard. Lids heavy and half closed, the only thing that helped him get a grip to his consciousness was the chilling air biting as his face.
The cobblestone roads were made so poorly that one heavy vehicle was all it took to uneven them. And it did. There were only two to three lights per block that dimly lit the path in the night. That always made him wary.
But not tonight.
He'd been looking forward to this for quite some time now. Not only would the new system work faster, it would also have some cutting edge tech to "penetrate networks". A fine way of saying hacking.
Coming from a not-so-great household, he never really had anything to use against his enemies. No background, nor wealth nor connections. Just his will. That blind, deaf and a tunnel vision will to survive. To barely stay afloat.
And coming to this university, however backwater it is, was his desperate attempt to get better resources than he would get by himself, which adds up to nothing.
As hard as it is to believe: a computer, an internet connection and the knowledge to wield them well were the only resources he needed. And lacked. A not-so-great household, remember?
And with the necessary tools at hand, all he needed was to choose among the infinitely many paths to follow. The resourcefully easier path with a stable future was Code.
And if he was willing to go as far as borrowing loans, he was hellbent on learning a skill that will earn him a lot of income even at an entry level, his shield. A skill that he could also use as a means to take on the offensive against others, his sword. Hence he chose to start learning "ethical" hacking.
GRUMBLE-GRUMBLE-GRUMBLE!!
"Oh snap!!"
His stomach made an animal-like sound. He was so caught up with the whole new OS thing that he forgot he hadn't had dinner yet. He checked his phone for the time.
[21:00]
"Looks like no dinner for me." He shrugged. "Again."
All shops and diners close by 20:00. So it was obvious there's nothing for him wherever he'd go. He ignored the hunger and kept on his walk. His plan was to make a few rounds in the small compound before heading back to the lab.
As he looked around the dimly lit path he could make out silhouettes of couples here and there. Snuggling with each other while whispering, probably cheesy things. Right before campus security came to tell them off.
He smirked unconsciously at the sight. He wasn't the type to be jealous easily. But he couldn't help it. On one hand he had to swim in loads of debt just to be there. Not just be there but also give up his sleep while he's at it. On the other hand here they are flirting with each other with no care in the world.
"It's not fair!"
Now let me stop you there before you say anything. Yes! He could be doing what they all were doing too. And yes it was his choice. But it was a forced one. It was his third choice. A choice he forged himself because he didn't like the other two that were presented to him: surrender or stagnate.
Life was never fair. Not to someone like him, the bottom fodder. And as long as he stays the same, it will never be. But that was fine. The hardest part was to fully understand that.
SIGH ~
He sat on a shadowy corner by a green area, a few steps above the road. It was one of the spots cleared when the officers dispersed the couples a while ago. It was well hidden by bushes and tree branches. He spaced out looking down on the cobblestone road from above. He checked his phone again.
[21:29]
Barely half an hour passed by. "I highly doubt those 10+ GBS of data would be done upgrading."
He looked down on the road again. He could see a few guys talking a bit too loud as they walked as slowly and lazily as one could. Finals were over that day. So no one had anything to do and, ironically, sleep never comes unless one had an exam the next day. The night was all theirs for the taking.
Out of nowhere and all of a sudden he felt cold ice entering his body right from the side. Only to be followed by the warm sensation of the liquid gushing out from it. It took him a moment to realize. With a foggy mind and a blurring vision, he looked down.
He was stabbed.
"Huh?"
"Eh?"
He looked back and saw someone wearing a mask looking him up intently, his hand still griping the knife. "What the...?"
"You're not Luke Parkinson?"
"...?"
"Oh well, the more the merrier!" the man said before yanking the knife out with a twist. He shoved Kevin to the ground. He then pinned him down while covering his mouth. Before thrusting the back again. And again and again and again.
...
The entire place was reeking of death. Piles upon piles of bodies were scattered about everywhere. The ground was damp with blood. The air was heavy with the smell of rot. Some were that of humans', others not. All different in color, size and shape. What made them alike was one aspect. They were all dead.
Except for one.
GASP-GASP-COUGH-COUGH-VOMIT
A bony hand stretched out of one of the piles. Young as the boy might have been, the sheer will to live was enough to pump his adrenaline to the limit. After what seemed like an eternity of agonizing he managed to extract himself from the bodies. It took his weak physique a few minutes to catch his breath.
That was when he looked. He was in the wilderness...somehow. An elegant ,cold, silver moon looking down from above. Crimson rivers below. And corpses in between.
However he looked at it, it didn't make any sense. He closed his eyes and opened them again, hoping there was something wrong with the way he first opened them. Nothing changed.
The change of scenery he'd understand, as he might have been dumped after the attack. An attack that was clearly aimed for that shithead Parkinson. That guy rode his family's status everywhere. He did a lot of despicable things that it would not be surprising people wanted him dead. Heck! Even he wanted him dead! What Kevin couldn't understand, though, was the nature of the corpses. People and...monsters?
He ran his hand over the wound by his side just to check if it was a hallucination, a dream of some sorts. But there was no wound.
"What {HUFF} In {HUFF} Hell's name {HUFF} Is this?" He muttered in utter disbelief as exhaustion crept in.
GROWL-GROWL-GROWL
That's when he heard it. A sound that he never heard before. A sound that, nonetheless, made all his hair stand straight. And sent shivers running down his spine that shook him to the core.
He froze, mentally and physically. He couldn't move an inch. A sense of complete paralysis that he never felt before. He didn't know what the sound was coming from. But he was pretty well aware that the source was a dangerous one.
He could feel its warm breath on the back of his neck. The fog made when it exhaled was so thick it covered his shivering body entirely. Almost soothing, if not for the impending danger.
After a few long minutes of waiting for his fate in agony, he finally mustered up the courage to glance back. Just a slight turn. Tilting his head to the side just a little bit. That's when he saw it and cursed his rotten luck yet again:
"Well {HUFF} I'll be damned!"