Lost In The Concords

BZZZZZ....BZZZZZ....BZZZZ....BZZZZ

"Jesus, seriously what the fuck is the wrong with this new C-Mod".

BZZZZZ....BZZZZZ....BZZZZ....BZZZZ

"SERIOUSLY SHUT THE FUCK UP"!!!

Your alarm has been going off for now... 5 minutes...Miguel. As the new C-Mod, that is the size of a penny, blurts over and over in the cranium of its owner Miguel Campanella.

"I know how long it has been going off you stupid AI, I can literally feel it in my head", as Miguel tries to fiddle with his app on his old beat up 4040 Mono-Mart smartphone. "The phone that beats all phones to a pulp", "can't forget that tagline when I bought the dumb thing 5 years ago. Wasn't I due for upgrade last month"?

Miguel then calls the number under services in his "phone to beat all phones" that has a cracked nano screen with no more 7G service because of the new roll out of the brand new 8G services, got to love corporate abolishment of basic consumer laws that went into effect, back in 2043.

"Hi hello"?

Hi, thanks for calling Mono-Mart customer service hotline, please press from one of the three following options

1. If you are looking to cancel your Mono-Mart phone plan, you will have to send it a virtual order request and will be charged a cancellation fee of, two hundred fifty dollars AND 32 cents. Request may take up to 2-4 weeks.
2. If you would like to pick up a mobile order under Mono-Mart Contractors, please download the... Mono-Mart Mover app. Here you can pick up and complete all member orders and make up to 100 dollars a day!
3. If you are inquiring about upgrading to a new phone and have any questions please go on our website and send a virtual request form for further help. Please note that not all applications will be approved, approval is based on income, consumer history with Mono-Mart, and public identity acceptance mark of 150 and above.

Miguel quickly opens up his other app, The Public Identity Acceptance App (California addition), to see where is mark last updated.

"Come on, come on, fucking load"! The app loading screen finally stops giving Miguel that never ending circle of slowness and pops up his Identity mark.

151

"Oh thank god", Miguel says with weight coming off his words like he was watching a sporting event.

"Now I just need to send in this request then I am good to go". Miguel tries to finally submit his request he gets this nauseating error screen.

ERROR, MUST PAY REMAING BALANCE OF... 133 dollars AND 29 cents.

YOU HAVE TO BE FUCKING KIDDING ME!

Miguel starts to go through his Mono-Mart bill and sees charges for... "8G Courtesy Services". He quickly hops on the Mono-Mart main website and goes to the FAQ's and sees something that starts to boil over his blood.

Section 7: Why am I being charged for "8G Courtesy Services"

The reason why you the consumer is being charged for our amazing 8G Courtesy Services at a 5x premium because you have not upgraded your phone plan and or phone to the new and improved 8G services which is now the only data that a phone can pull when outside of a wi-fi network. Please note if you would like to not be charged 5x the premium for the 8G service, you will need to upgrade your phone and or phone plan to handle to new services by sending in a virtual request form. Please note that not all applications will be approved, approval is based on income, consumer history with Mono-Mart, and public identity acceptance mark of 150 and above.

Miguel quickly starts to lose his cool.

"Are you serious? 5x the charges! For something I don't even want! I have to do drop-offs today, I have too if I want to upgrade this shitty phone".

What makes this worse for Miguel is that his C-Mod has been acting up aside from it not working properly on his shitty phone. The mod from Hortic Modifications is top of the line... when purchased legally of course.

Miguel lives in the slums of West Hollywood which was ranked as one the most dangerous parts of California to live in at the moment, but rent is cheap and for a regular micro construction worker with no degree who does Mono-Mart contract work on the side to help pay for basic essentials, the black market becomes a common place for people like him.

This is because these regular folk want the nice things but don't want to pay the full price for them let alone pay for the Mod Surgery that is required to put them in correctly, so most go to the Mod District (formally known as The Fashion District) to get such services and surgery for less than half the price.

Already angry and not paying attention to anything around him, Miguel puts on his trusty Utta-Jacket and 2020 Classic Levi Jeans and walks out his rundown Hollywood apartment. With no clear head Miguel opens up the Mono-Mart Mover app and quickly starts accepting drop offs

The first location for pick up is: Little Tokyo Mart, as the C-Mod in Miguel starts spitting out directions and details of the pickup and what to look out for

Miguel quickly picks up this brown paper box and takes it to its next location

The first drop off location is: Inglewood Elder Care Center, a location Miguel has been to multiple times that he knows the back routes like it's nothing.

As the orders start coming in, the cap on how many orders starts to slowly creep up. Miguel knows he can only do 10 orders a day at $10 a pop. Not much for over 5 hours worth of work but anything is better than being stuck with no money or even worse end up like one of those Thizz heads on Ramona Boulevard who beg for the drug just so they can stop feeling the pain of withdrawals.

Your final location for pick up is: South Central Mega Mart, as Miguel looks at his final location he starts to smile with happiness that has not been seen all week.

"Finally a nice area", Miguel says as he remembers all the renovation and forcefully relocation of all residents back in 2029. "A sad but necessary evil that needed to be done for the future of the Los Angeles area", a quote from then mayor of Los Angeles, former movie star, Jackson Bernard, really sad that the cartel got to him not even a year into him being a mayor.

Miguel walks up to the mega mart and quickly starts feeling the annoying buzz that he can't turn off.

BZZZZZ....BZZZZZ....BZZZZ....BZZZZ

"Oh no not again dude"!

BZZZZZ....BZZZZZ....BZZZZ....BZZZZ

I am so done with this mod!

As Miguel loses track with all the annoying buzzing he walks inside the mega mart and grabs a brown paper box, similar if not identical to the ones he has been picking up all day. As he walks out he doesn't verify the package but simply scans the box with his C-Mod retinal program and gets his drop off location.

The final drop off location is: The Concords of Old Hollywood, this was quite a shocker to someone like Miguel who has never been to The Concords, a historical yet abandoned complex of apartments and businesses that has been lost to time ever since the 2035 riots single handedly leveled old Hollywood and made it into the slums it is today.

"Why would I have to go to The Concords? Literally no one lives there, no one CAN live there last time I heard".

Miguel abruptly feels a slight tingle course through the left side of his brain, as if something was trying to alert him.

"Well that felt uneasy", as Miguel starts trying to do a manual restart on his phone so his C-Mod starts working properly again.

As he tries to open up his Mover app, his phone crashes and restarts on him.

"I swear I can't wait to get paid next week so I can get this new phone, then I can actually start seeing where I am actually going and I can turn off this stupid mod in my head... why did I even get this implanted". Miguel's thoughts run through his brain as he is walking along Sunset Boulevard, with his phone not working and his C-Mod barely functioning he just uses his vast memory of locations of Los Angeles to get to The Concords.

As he approaches the 3 square blocks known as The Concords he looks up and sees the rusted neon sign that used to hang on the main wall going into the complex. He clearly remembers the smell of fresh food and lively shopping that used to entrench itself in this small community.

"Can you imagine if they never set off that bomb", as Miguel thinks of the past fondly only to have it ripped away by memories of the awful things that happened and cemented this place as a long forgotten plot of land in middle of old Hollywood.

Miguel starts looking at this brown box and starts to ponder... "what is even in this thing". Miguel has been doing this Mover app thing for over a year now so being curious sometimes comes and goes as you drop off at certain locations, especially the richer areas in the great city of Los Angeles.

This one box just didn't seem right though. Why would a package coming from the richest part of Los Angeles be going to the most notoriously dangerous part of Los Angeles. As Miguel starts to comb through the concaved rubble and open doorframes he starts to feel his C-Mod slowly start sputtering something to him.

LOCATION... AREA... UNDEFINED... LEA... MEDIATELY... LOC... TION... PLEASE... CALL... ERROR

"What the fuck", as Miguel starts looking around wondering why the C-Mod would just start flipping out like that.

"I have been living in Hollywood for 5 years now and been in L.A. my entire life, I know where I am at". The mod would think otherwise because it keeps repeating the same message over and over again.

LOCATION... AREA... UNDEFINED... LEA... MEDIATELY... LOC... TION... PLEASE... CALL... ERROR

Until finally the mod says something different.

LOCATION... UPDATED... THIS IS A DIRECT MESSAGE FROM THE CUSTOMER... PLEASE HOLD

As Miguel stands in the middle of trash and pieces of concrete he can start to feel the heat beating on his neck due to the giant hole in the celling. It feels like a eternity to him as he can almost feel the atmosphere closing in on his thoughts as they run wild with anticipation.

GO 30 FEET FORWARD, TURN LEFT, GO 13 FEET, TURN LEFT AGAIN, GO 10 FEET, TURN RIGHT, GO 29 FEET, I AM THE RED DOOR ON THE LEFT HANDSIDE.

Miguel feels his skin crawl as he looks around, almost panicking as every word is said, like the person who gave him that message was watching him from afar.

Miguel says to himself, "I need to turn around now, I need to just drop this and go"

I WOULDN'T DO THAT MIGUEL

Miguel's eyes start bolting even faster, a knot starts forming in his throat, he knows that he only said this in his thoughts.

"How did you hear that"....

I CAN HEAR ALL WHO ENTERS THE CONCORDS, I CAN TAP INTO ANY MOD, ANY SPEAKER, ANY PHONE... ANY PERSON

Miguel tries to find out where he can escape too but is frozen with fear, a cascading amount of anxiety starts to fill his stomach as he responds.

"Wha...what do I do when I get to the door".

YOU DROP THE PACKAGE MIGUEL...

Miguel starts to slowly follow the speaker's instructions

"30 feet forward... 13 feet... 10 feet, turn right... 29 feet... I am here... ummm sir I am here, at the red door".

ARE YOU READY MIGUEL...

- To be continued