Previously:

After the surprising interview with Annie and Don. Sam finally got to clean up and curled up with a good book and tried to forget about the last few weeks.

Present:

Sam spent two days in her room before she couldn't stand it any longer. Surely, they cleared everything by now. She needed to get back to work and get a new phone first. The phone is how she got her workload and more importantly, get in contact with Robin. Boy, she was going to be pissed. Robin was Sam's only friend and had been since Sam could remember. She remembered playing in the Market Place streets with her, swerving around stalls selling flowers. Back then was a happier time for Sam, her father was still alive, and the world seemed so much more open than it does now. Thinking back on the more pleasant times Sam felt like she needed to get in touch with Robin.

  Phones were sold on the Market Place floor, so Sam gathered her social security card and a band-aid, for reasons to explain later. She put her hair back in a hair tie and headed out the door. Walking down the stairs Sam was feeling pretty good about the day. She was walking down the stairs a lot more gracefully than last time and blending in with the crowd was easy when there wasn't money on your head.

Reaching the bustling Market Place, it was alive with noise and people selling everywhere. From food to clothes to tools, and most importantly, phones. Everyone had their own building or stall to sell things, so it was relatively easy to find who or what you were looking for. Except for the phone merchants, they moved around quite a bit through the floor. So there had to be a little patience when looking for them.

Aimlessly walking around the Market Place Sam took in the sights. The few trees on the floor were always green, which seemed funny to Sam to have them in the first place. It was a nice sight and Sam loved them, but seeing them inside a building was a funny thought compared to reading old books about forests outside and seeing them grow in random places. They just seemed so, fake here.

Walking around she suddenly found herself in a pretty familiar spot, the building she had been staying in for two weeks. Looking at the building, Sam was shocked. As if overnight, it looked like it had been broken into and torn apart! Caution tape was spread a crossed the door, windows smashed, and looking inside, everything was broken and deserted.

Sam felt her heart squeeze for the poor older man who had helped her and noticed a spray-painted symbol on the furthest wall. It was the Pi symbol, which was only associated with the Ghost of Archimedes. Did he do this? I was under the impression they knew each other. Sam thought for a moment before a dark thought crossed her mind. They could've done it... Thinking back to Annie and Don Sam felt her stomach drop. I did this... I showed them where he was, and this is what they did.

Sam walked over to the nearest building across the street, the wooden two-story was identical to the ones around it. There was no door to open just a cut-out in the side of the building and windows with no glass. Walking inside, the walls were painted a baby blue and she noticed that the merchant was selling deodorant and other toiletries. All for a pretty expensive price, at least, out of Sam's price range. But most nice things like this were. The merchant was a younger, rounder lady with black skin and hair braided down her back, she had her back turned and was facing the wall, messing with some product. She didn't seem to notice Sam walking up to the counter.

"Umm, Excuse me, ma'am..." Sam whispered.

   The lady squeaked and jumped a foot in the air turning to Sam in a panic "Fuck lady! You gave me a heart attack. What do you want?" She said in a huff with a flushed face and a surgical mask on. Sam was taken aback for a moment.

"Uh," Stumbled Sam in front of the pretty aggressive lady. "Could you tell me what happened with the gentleman across the street?"

"Oh, Juda? He went missing the night his shop was destroyed. It was horrible! To think one man did all that damage." Said the lady, suddenly changing her demeanor from irritable to false pity.

"Wait, you saw only one man?" Sam said in disbelief.

"Well... Not exactly, I heard a noise in the night and when I looked out the window, I saw a shadow running down the street," she responded while crossing her arms.

"Oh, and you haven't seen Juda since?"

"Nope." the lady leaned in and raised an eyebrow "What's your relationship with Juda anyway?"

"Oh!" Studdered Sam, " Ummm nothing much, he just helped me out once and I was hoping to thank him. "

"Ah, well he's as good as dead now lady. Now, please buy something or leave, you're taking time out of my day."

"Sorry, ma'am." Sam bowed her head and left the store with a heavy heart.

Sam, not paying attention, walked right into someone while exiting the store. "AH, Sorry about that," Sam yelped while looking up at the man she bumped into.

"Don!" Sam explained while recognizing the bulky man.

"Well, Well, Miss Green, what are you doing down here?" Don said with a smile on his face.

Sam looked at the destroyed building across the street and Don noticed the direction of her gaze."Ah, yes," he said with a frown, "He was the one who housed you right? I was actually here to question him about the incident, but it looks like a certain someone got here first."

Sam peered at Don with scrutiny but couldn't immediately find a lie in his voice. "You really think it was him? The same guy he trusted enough to watch over me?"

"What makes you think the merchant was doing it willingly? Or that the Ghost wouldn't cut off a loose end like this?" Don said staring right back at Sam with a tilted head.

Sam couldn't hold his gaze and glanced at the ground "You're right... are you guys looking for him? Juda?"

"Yes, Samantha. You have my word. Hey, now that I have you here, do you have a new phone?"

"Uh, no, that was my original reason for coming down here, but I can't seem to find the guy yet." huffed Sam.

"Ah, I can help with that. Just give me a moment." Sam watched as Don pulled out his own phone and was quickly typing away.

"Looks like Louis is doing rounds in the food section, you can probably catch him hanging around the bread." Don chuckled "He loves the smell of fresh-baked bread."

Sam tilted her head in confusion "Louis is...."

Don finished Sam's thought quickly. "The phone merchant. He and I are good buds, we seem to work closely together often."

"Ah, ok well thanks. I'll head that way now."

"Before you go, I want you to have this." He said as he pulled out a small rectangular card from his pocket. "It's my number, send me a text to let me know you found him"

"Ok, will do," Sam replied while taking the plastic card and looked at it. It was plain white with black lettering, "Donald Theatus?" Sam asked while struggling to hold in a giggle.

"Hey, Don. Just Don." He said with a nervous smile as he rubbed the back of his neck "We don't pick our names now do we, Miss Yuri Green?"

"Oof, you got me." Sam feigned being shot in the chest.

Don chuckled. "Have a good day Samantha."

"You too…Don." Smiled Sam.

Sam walked away and headed in the direction of the food market. It was a pretty large part of the market floor, luckily Sam knew right where the bakery was too. She liked getting fresh sourdough at least once every couple of months. Walking through the food stalls, Sam's mouth was watering. The smells of cooking and the sound too, it was exciting and energizing.

The floor wasn't as busy as it used to be, with the illness going around and such, people were wearing face masks and staying a good distance away from each other. It looked like all the shops were taking a hit and there were fewer people in general around. Sam frowned at the sad thought of all those who lost loved ones recently. All those people... what a horrible way to go. Heading to the bread, Sam saw the guy she was looking for. A tall lean guy with a small cart set up with machines and phones, munching on a cinnamon roll.

Sam approached the fellow probably named Louis and hesitantly spoke "Are you, Louis?"

"Yup that's me, and you must be Samantha Green? Don told me you would be looking for me, said you would be all shy and shit." The tall man said grinning ear to ear mocking her. Sam was surprised to see him not wearing a mask, but it wasn't her place to question it... She wasn't wearing one anymore either.

Sam scrunched up her nose and peered at Louis. "Says the guy with icing dribbling down his chin and on his shirt, very professional."

"Ok, Ok, Don didn't say anything about you having a feisty temper," Louis said while smiling. "You have everything you need?"

"Social and me."

"Good, let’s get started. Card first please."

   Sam handed over her social security card, "Ok, and next... hmm, your pinky finger please?" Louis said.

And this is where things need to be explained a little. You see, the currency is done all through the phones... everything is, they're basically our lively hood wrapped up in a small device we carry with us at all times. So, to lose one is a big deal and to get a new one you have to prove who you are beyond a shadow of a doubt. The social security card is just to get the new phone set up, but they take a sample of your blood from a random area of their choice (within reason) to match it with an earlier sample taken all the way back from being a baby. It's pretty fool-proof, and luckily, since phones are pretty important, they're cheap!

Louis pricked her pinky with a needle hooked up to a machine and within seconds it came back with a cheer full chime. Louis smiled and said, "Looks like everything checked out, do you prefer a certain color?"

"Dark blue please?"

"Of course, here you go. All ready to go, there was some money missing from your account during the time you were unconscious. We chopped it up to fraud and gave it back. Please be more careful in the future ok?

"Well hopefully, I won't get sick again, and won't pass out on a random floor."

"Indeed, that would be most unfortunate. Well, have a good day, I'm off."

"Thank you for the new phone," Sam said while waving at the man good-bye. Louis nodded and walked off with his cart.

   Sam was pretty hungry, and the smell of bread was too tempting to pass up. After getting a fresh loaf of sourdough, Sam made her way back to her room and passed by a news stall. All of the screens blared the same thing, too loud not to miss.

   "Murder of our Representative Ryan!"

"Ryan and his family were safe in their house when the Ghost of Archimedes struck and killed all of them. No one knows how he got in and there's no evidence of where he went afterward. What will happen now? There will be a ceremony on the representative floor at the end of the week from 08:00 am to 10:00 pm. Please show your support during these dire times."

   Sam stood with her mouth agape. She knew something bad had happened but couldn't believe her ears. The whole family?! How could he... God that could've been me. But why wasn't it? Sam hurried away back to her room, she had enough for one day and it was getting late. Sam got to her room and sent a quick message to Don.

I made it home and got a new phone.

 Sam typed and sent it. Aw shit... Robin... She'll freak and demand to see me right away... I don't think I can deal with that right now. Especially after learning what had happened that day. I'll message her first thing in the morning and see her then. Sam sent her phone aside and got ready for bed. When she heard a chime from her phone.

Good to hear from you. Have a good night Samantha. Don had written back. Sam smiled to herself and curled up in her cot. Don is nice.