I couldn't believe it. After twenty years, I was back. Back in Cary. After twenty years of fighting the Net. I didn't want to be back. Everyone was dead. The Net came when I was young, took over. I was lucky. No one knew that they were planning. They just suddenly came, no warning, and superimposed their will on us. They killed everyone, and used their bodies. Now, I don’t know who to trust. We kept a tight circle, the Fighters. It's hard sometimes, when a friend is taken, and you must shoot them down. But that's what the world's become. It's them or you. I look up at my house- my old house. The Net had taken over. Everywhere, there was death. The house reeked of it. I had an aversion to it, but then I remembered how I used to play here. I looked in the back, and saw a crude grave. I went closer, and realized it was Fluffy. My dog, from back then. She must have died before the Net got to her. I smiled. It was better that way.

I heard a gasp from behind. I whisked around, and saw my mother. She yelled out to me, bereaved, said she missed me, said she was waiting, that she kept off the Net. I looked at her eyes- they looked so genuine. She cared. She survived. I took one step towards her- then she fell. I saw the wires in her head. I remembered why. Because they took her; they took everyone. I remember seeing them take her and my father. I could never forget that. I ran into the house. I saw them all- my friends, my family. They were all here. The Net knew. They knew I was coming, and they planned. I put my gun on my shoulder. I wanted back up, but there was none. All the back up was gone. It was just me. Me and them. I looked at my friends, my family, remembered how we used to laugh, how we used to smile. I didn't want to survive. There was no use. If they were dead, then I was already. I put my gun to my head, looked around at them, and ignored the coldness in their eyes. I just saw them, and how they smiled, and how they said they loved me. And I know they did. But they didn't anymore. I pulled the trigger, and then it went black.