Zone C -- Megacity One

[Strazio Rockwell]

Soon enough the drugged prime had wandered his way to the fringes of a city greater than any he had seen before. His mind bubbled and fizzed as it tried to perform the mental arithmetics required to even comprehend such a grand collection of buildings. Instead of being amazed he simply fumbled about with a slackjawed grin. Some kind of forcefield stopped him from pressing forth and he spent entirely too long fiddling with what turned out to be nothing more than a chain-linked fence. While sober Strazio would’ve reduced the length of fence to nothing more than a bubbling puddle of aluminum, astronaut Straz enjoyed the detour.

Strazio stumbled through the city, surrounded by a fog visible only to his eyes. Crumbling storefronts and ruined homes served as eye candy. Where a normal being would see nothing but the dilapidated despair of a dead city Strazio’s brain twisted the greyscale into a vibrant sea of motion and colors. Remnants of the pink leaves floated around his mouth, like hundreds of honey-filled pop rocks. The druggy had only a vague sense of direction, an inner core that was still sober and fighting like hell to drag its body towards safety. The sun had retreated behind the horizon, but the colors continued their chaotic onslaught.

*BEEP*

That one sound was enough to force Strazio’s brain into panicked overload. He knew that the sound was bad, but for the life of him he couldn’t remember why. Once again his collar beeped and the red warning light flicked on. His hands shot towards the metal ring around his neck and he tugged at the restraint.

“Beep,” he mimicked, unsure as to why he mimicked it other than the fact that it felt just right.

And so it went the drugged madman frolicked into the night, beeping at the stars and making a general ass of himself.

Moving C2 to C16