He brutally killed me without saying anything. I wasn’t mad, I took my chance assuming he wouldn’t want to pass up on the tier nine core, but it seemed killing me before I could grow into a simir threat was more important to him. I flipped the coin and it came up tails. I wasn’t sad or angry, he did what he thought was necessary to stay at the top… So why could I still think?

  I felt a sudden pulling in my heart as I felt time begin to slow. My charred body shouldn’t be able to feel or see anything, but I could feel time stop, then start to rewind. Slowly at first, and then it kept speeding up. Time rewound all the way back until the moment the asteroid struck the pnet. My body effectively rewrote my old one, but at the same time, I had de-aged.

  The facial scar I got from one of the city leaders had disappeared, and many of the built-up injuries no longer existed as I looked at my handsome face. I was five feet six before I gained my powers, but now I was an entire foot taller. I went from a third-person perspective to a first-person perspective as I regained control over my body. As my mind finally caught up to what was happening, I remembered where I was. The security guard who was yelling at me was taken aback as this new form appeared in front of him, before he took it as a trick of his senses.

  The older fat man went right back into his rant. “I told you, it doesn’t matter if the item couldn’t be scanned. You still have to pay for it.” My mind was left bnk for a few seconds until I remembered where exactly I was again. The coffee grounds I tried to buy didn’t have a visible scanning code, so when I went to the self-checkout, I couldn’t scan the item. After going back and checking to see that, no, it wasn’t just the single can of coffee, but all of them didn’t have a code. I looked for a cashier and even walked around the store for anyone else to help before I decided to just take it.

  This argument would result in the police being called and me spending the night in jail, something I couldn’t really afford to happen now that the world was about to end. I tried the diplomatic approach first. “Sir, look at this coffee. Where on this container do you see a code to scan? I looked for a repcement, but none of them had a code, and then I looked for a person to help me, and couldn’t find anyone. I’m willing to put my favorite coffee back and pick it up a different day if you’ll just let me go.”

  Straightforward and to the point, I thought I was eloquent in my speech, but he didn’t agree. “You can’t just say. ‘Oh, the item was too hard to scan, so I just decided to take it.’ No! We’re adults here, and you have to pay for the items you buy. I’ll have to call the police and have this put on your record so you don’t make the same mistake again.”

  That was incredibly unfortunate. Things couldn’t py the same as they had the first time because it ate up most of a day to get released, which only left me a quarter of a day with food that should have been refrigerated and left out for the entire time I was in jail. I decided to go with what I wanted to say the first time around.

  “That’s really unfortunate for you. So here’s what I’m going to do. I’m going to spike the can of coffee onto the ground like a football, and you can clean it up when you regain consciousness.” I grabbed it out of his hand and smashed it into the ground. His brain could not comprehend what I said or did until he looked up just in time for my fist to connect with his face. I couldn’t help but yell. “You want to charge people for items, then make it fucking possible! How the fuck is it my fault the store ripped off the scanning codes?”

  With that, I walked out of the store. I wasn’t sure the police would bother with this. On one end, it was an assault, but it would be fairly difficult to tie it to me. Sure, there were cameras, but I suddenly didn’t look like I used to when I walked into the store. The police might get caught up in that fact, and that was if the facial recognition software even worked on me.

  I got onto my moped and drove home. It was enough for the small areas I needed to visit, but I needed a real vehicle to transfer items before the flood hit. Before that, I opened up my phone and called my brother. I couldn’t help but smile as he answered. “Yo! What’s up fuckface, long time no talk.” His foul mouth almost brought a tear to my eye.

  “Hey, you have that girlfriend in Las Vegas, right? Go visit her tomorrow for me.” I heard him take a crunchy bite of something before he asked. “Why, you going to surprise me with a visit, brotha? It’ll be the first time we’ve seen each other since Dad’s funeral.” I got a little more serious now. “Alright… Don’t go spreading this around to too many people, but California is going to be hit with a giant storm. Getting off the coast now will save you from getting stuck in the crowds, leaving the city before it’s announced in two days.”

  He hummed before speaking again. “Nah, I’ll just stick out the storm like I always do.” I breathe out through my nose as I try to think of something to convince him. “...You remember how you owe me a thousand dolrs still? If you go to Las Vegas and put 1k on bck, you can keep it if you win… Take a picture with your girlfriend and the table when you get there.” With that, I hung up. He worked for a ndscaping business, but his boss was super chill with them taking breaks as long as he let them know beforehand.

  I called my sister next. She answered at the stove, I could hear something sizzling in a pan as she answered. “Hello?” Once again, I almost cried at the sound of her voice. My brother was most likely killed since he lived in California, but my sister lived in Texas. I did meet up with her years ter, but she and her kids had changed dramatically. Guarded, she and her three girls were far more guarded from what happened. I didn’t meet her husband, but at least they joined a group that sted until I died.

  “It’s your brother Danny. What are you up to?” I couldn’t help but throw out an innocuous question. “Just cooking, what’s up?” It would take a while to convince my brother, but there was no hope of convincing my sister that I was really from the future. I was just going to give her a heads-up. “Do you have a pen or pencil you can write some stuff down?”

  “Y-ya… Give me a sec.” She shuffled around as she dug through a drawer. I heard her youngest ask. “Mommy, I’m hungry.” My sister answered her. “I know, sweety, it will just be a little longer… So, what do you want me to write down?” I collected my thoughts and told her. “When the news comes out in a few days, don’t panic and remember this message. Buy cigarettes and keep them in your attic; they can be used as currency in the future. Store water up in your attic, as much as you can, along with the food. Also, clothes for cold weather and fuel for making fires. Join the Families. Only families can join that group, and they’re trustworthy and will protect you.”

  “They… are trustworthy and will protect you… Got it, what’s this for?” I decided to take a shot in the dark. “You remember that asteroid that was on the news that might hit the pnet?” She stirred something, causing it to sizzle again. “No.” Of course, she didn’t. “Well, it did hit Earth, and I just want you to be ready for the fallout of what that means. Just, when you see it on the news, remember this note I had you write down… Alright, love you, bye.”

  “Yep, love you too. The girls say love you, too.” I couldn’t help but ugh as none of them did. It was just something routine she’d say. “Tell them I love them too, and goodbye again… Remember this note… Bye.” I hung up and got ready to call some more people I was friends with now and in the future. It was going to be a long night.

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