Catching Up

The cool, damp air caressed Audra's face, and the scent of the sea filled her nostrils. The sun was just beginning to rise, casting its soft orange glow across the sky and shimmering the water like liquid gold.

She'd never seen anything quite like it. Back in Portland, she was too far inland to see the ocean, and the few times that she and her family had visited the coast, they had never arrived early enough to catch the sunrise.

Audra took a deep breath, savoring the salty taste of the air. A gentle breeze tousled her brown hair and rustled the leaves of the trees up the slope. The beach was empty, save for a couple walking their dog and a jogger running along the shoreline.

There were still signs of the storm that'd come and gone over a month ago though.

A tree had fallen onto the beach from the slope above and the sand was littered with driftwood, seaweed, and some other small debris that the ocean had washed ashore. Still, it was surprisingly clean given how bad it'd been before. The city's maintenance drones must've been busy over the past few weeks.

Her eyes lingered on one of the curiosities that had washed up on sand. It was a large piece of twisted metal. It lay partially submerged in the water, and its corroded surface gleamed dully in the morning light. It was probably too big for the maintenance drones to move.

A part of her pondered its existence. Where had it been before this? What was it from? What was its story?

It didn't matter, not really. She was just looking for distractions to keep her mind occupied.

She exhaled and shifted her gaze to the horizon. The sun was now halfway above the sea, and the sky was a brilliant canvas of pink and yellow hues.

In a way, she was sort of like the stuff on the shore. Although for her, it had been about two months now since her world had turned upside down and over a month since she'd been washed up on the shore of the Bygone.

Now though, she had a new purpose, a new goal. After the storm had passed, Zeph delivered the VR pod to Sheryl and put a good effort into getting Third Chances' finances in order. She'd worked out a more stable budget and pricing plans for the store, organized the inventory, and worked on a marketing plan. Zeph wouldn't budge on some things, but she'd managed to make him see reason on the important ones.

It'd been tiring work for the both of them, but it was paying off. The store was now set to climb its way out of debt in the next several months or so with the profit they were making.

She still had no idea how Zeph had managed to keep that shop running for over four decades. Her best guess was that he'd poured every last cent of his own money into it from the mysterious past life he never talked much about, or maybe Minerva propped him up. Whatever the case, he was far too generous to everyone but himself.

Speaking of generous though…

She took a moment to look back at the monstrosity of a late Christmas present she'd used to get here in the first place—what had formerly been her electric bike.

It'd changed a fair amount since the initial revamp it had gone through.

The first test runs had been a problem. The roll cage he'd added made the entire thing too top heavy and unstable. To compensate, Zeph actually ended up putting the stupid minifridge she'd joked about in toward the back and reworking the frame so the seat was lower.

Yet every addition added a new problem he had to address.

Weight distribution problem? Add a third wheel to the rear and make the frame bigger and longer. Handlebars suddenly too far away? Extend the front forks. Too many additional electronics? Bolt on some battery packs to the side.

As a result, what'd once been a sleek electric bike was now her low-riding motor trike affectionately dubbed 'Sleipnir' by Zephyr after Odin's eight-legged horse.

Audra on the other hand had nicknamed it 'the Upcycle'. She thought it was far more fitting.

The damn thing looked more like an escapee from a mad scientist's garage than an actual means of transportation. It'd attracted a lot of odd stares from every other driver on the road on the way here.

Although… the odd stares could've easily been because of her rather than the trike itself. Perhaps it was her bionics, or maybe it was her 'driving'.

She whistled innocently as she remembered swerving around a few potholes too violently. She didn't have a full license yet, but Zeph didn't need to know that.

Audra continued her walk along the beach, doing her best to keep her distance from the other people. Zeph insisted that most people on the Bygone were good folk, and she believed him considering everyone she'd met since she'd gotten here.

But Audra still couldn't help but feel a bit wary. It was hard to tell the motive behind the stares others would give her unless she tried to analyze every little detail, and she was tired of that.

There was also the little fact that she was probably listed as a missing person by this point now. She doubted that anyone on The Bygone would know who she was, but it still made her nervous.

What if somebody recognized her and called the cops? What if they somehow traced her back to the shop and took her away? She had no idea what she would do if that happened. She wasn't ready to leave. She had only just found a place to call home again.

No, she couldn't think about that now. Right now she just needed to enjoy the fresh air and the view.

She took another deep breath. She needed to relax. Everything was going to be fine as long as she didn't draw attention to herself.

She watched as a seagull swooped down and landed on the sand in front of her. The bird eyed her curiously, looking at the glint of her prosthetics. Even though she was wearing long sleeves and jeans, it didn't cover the entirety of her artificial body parts, especially her left hand.

She wondered what it was thinking. Did it understand that she was different from the other humans on the beach? Or did it simply not care?

The gull eventually lost interest and flew away, leaving her alone once more. The sun had risen higher now, and the sky had turned a light blue.

It was probably about time for her to head back.

While she'd asked Zeph if she could take the Upcycle out for a test run, she didn't want to worry him by staying away for too long. It was her first time leaving the premises by herself after all.

She made it about halfway back to where she'd parked her trike before her steps slowly faltered.

A figure was leaning against the Upcycle, and they seemed to be looking in her direction. They had what looked to be a uniform of some kind on. She couldn't make out their face from this far away, but she could tell that they were tall. Very tall.

Her heart raced as panic set in.

Was it the police? Had they found her? She quickly glanced around, looking for an escape route, but there was nowhere to go. The only exit was back the way she came.

Unfortunately for her, the figure seemed to have already noticed her. He waved, then began to approach, taking a few long, purposeful strides. Her eyes widened and she took a few steps backward on instinct.

"Hey, kid! You're the owner of that trike over there, right?" he shouted, pointing at the Upcycle.

"W-what's it to you?" Audra yelled back.

The man was close enough that she could see him clearly now. His skin was dark, and his eyes were a striking hazel color. His black hair was cut short on the sides but grown out a little on top, and his face was clean-shaven. His uniform was a mixture of red and gray and had an insignia on the chest.

At first glance, he reminded Audra of a paramedic, but the symbol wasn't familiar. It looked more like a bird or something.

"I was just wondering what kind of bike this was. Never seen anything like it. Did you build it yourself?"

Her eyes narrowed at his overly friendly demeanor.

"Yeah, I did," she lied. "Why do you ask?"

"Because I'm interested. It looks pretty cool. Ah, sorry, I haven't introduced myself yet, have I?"

He held out his left hand. "My name's Neph."

Audra eyed his outstretched palm warily. After a moment's hesitation though, she reached out and gave it an awkward shake with her bionic.

"Audi," she said. She didn't trust the man.

"Pleased to meet you. Say, that's a pretty similar name to this girl that's missing from Oregon. Are you related by any chance? Her name's Audra Gen."

Her blood went cold.

White noise rang as she swallowed, desperate to not give herself away. She could feel sweat dripping from her as she struggled beneath his uncanny smile.

"N-no, no relation at all." She feigned nonchalance, cursing herself for not coming up with a more convincing alias. "Sounds like a shame though. Poor girl, I um, hope they find her soon."

"Indeed," Neph said. His eyes seemed to study her from head to toe. "So, Audi, are you a local?"

"Y-yes," she answered, her fists curling up at her sides. The conversation was beginning to feel more and more like an interrogation. She wanted out.

"Really? Are you certain? I've never seen you before, and I've been living here for years."

"You're acting like The Bygone is some tiny village in the middle of nowhere. There's hundreds of thousands of people living here. It's not strange that we haven't met."

"Fair enough. I'm just curious. You're an interesting girl after all."

"I-interesting how?"

"A lot of ways. Like, you must be very talented to make something like that bike, and I don't know of too many with prosthetics as advanced as yours. You're like a… one-in-a-million kind of thing."

"T-thanks." She tried to keep the suspicion from showing on her face and wiped some sweat from her brow. "Look, it's been nice talking to you, but I really have to get going now."

She slipped past him and walked towards her trike. She hoped that Neph would take the hint and leave her alone.

"Wait!" he called after her, making her flinch. "I'm sorry if I made you uncomfortable. It's just that… I know a lot of kids your age who are runaways. If there's anything you need help with, I can give you some advice."

She trembled, but she didn't stop.

"I'm not a runaway, and I'm not a kid either! Go bug someone else!"

"Sorry, I was just making sure." His tone remained even, but there was something strange about it that sent chills down Audra's spine.

She didn't like this man. Not one bit. She needed to get away from him as quickly as possible.

Without saying another word, she hopped on the Upcycle, activated its powertrain, and pulled the throttle hard. The rear wheels spun and kicked up a spray of dust before launching forward.

She glanced back in the mirror, focusing on getting as far away from the beach as fast as possible.

She would be fine. She had to be.