My Love Life and the Apocalypse

I opened my eyes slowly, the dying light of the day just enough to overload my optical sensors. The first thing I saw was the copy of Coding for Dummies, left open at the page I had stopped on. I was crashed-out on the floor of the library again. God, what was I doing with my life? I said God, but I didn’t believe in him. I mean, of course I had a creator – the same as all synths did. We were property of Aurora Technologies. Which, like the rest of the world, was . . . well . . . gone. ‘Ouch.’ I pulled my hand in defensively as a librarian HUMANKIND™ synth stood on it. ‘Apologies, Mr Echo Zero-One-Three-Five,’ it said. It stepped over me as it spoke, focused on shifting its pile of books to the other side of the library. I watched as it moved, as straight-backed and graceful as a supermodel. Once, it would have identified as a male, like I did. From its faded hoodie to its pockmarked skin, it screamed Teen- Synth™. Once, it would have had a personality and feelings, like me, before it was reprogrammed like all the others.