FAMILY

"Nina!" A five-year-old boy cried, running behind the young woman and his three siblings.

"Jesse, you're too small to come with us," Nina said, crouching down next to him to look him straight in the eye. Small, curious brown eyes that contrasted with his dark black skin. "Stay with your mum and grandma, we'll be right back," she added softly.

Jesse stood there pouting his lips angrily. Then, he retorted pointing at one of his two brothers:

"Lucas is small too." 

"Lucas is young, but no, he is no longer small. He's fast and nimble enough to keep up with us," Nina replied calmly, stroking the little boy's hair before adding with a smile, "We still need to feed you more so that you become fast and nimble too."

The five young people were lying on the ground behind a small fence from where they were watching three young people working the small plot of land in front of their building; the dry and tired soil struggled to produce the fruit and vegetables of their labour. These young people were skinny and they seemed as weak as the land they worked tirelessly. Only a small number of the AI ​​camp residents had acquired the few plots of land available to better exploit it for themselves and their families. But since the intelligent system had calculated well, and as if the Earth also knew the game of human greed, the earth refused to play along. If there weren't enough for everyone, there wouldn't be anything for no one.

Initially, the idea of ​​the rich and all-powerful man was to make the undesirables dependent on the intelligent artificial system. The place had been chosen precisely for the poverty of its soil; the vast majority of the living area had been covered in bitumen and concrete. There was no natural source of water: no lake, no river, no stream. Food and water supplies had to come from the other side by road transport or by pipe. The rich all-powerful man allegedly wanted to protect the environment. However, as the residents were soon to find out these measures aimed solely at reducing their' autonomy. As a result, very sophisticated public transport had been developed inside the camp, cutting down the number of vehicles per person by more than three quarters. The privilege of moving fast and far would only be granted to a handful. It was obviously provided that they could afford it.

Nina gave a little nod to her friends who began to move forward still lying on the ground while she stayed behind to cover them. Suddenly, Lucas rose on his feet to reveal his slender figure. The young people immediately raised their heads to stare at him. He stood there for awhile with a big smile, his black face illuminated by long white teeth.

"Do you need any help?" He started.

"We don't want you here, it's our territory! Go away!" One of the three youths snapped. His hollow, pale face reflected the hunger in his stomach.

"It's as you wish, but the last harvest will be for us then!" Lucas' sister exclaimed coming out of nowhere to grab the basket half full of vegetables.

"You..." One of the youngsters began, dropping his pickaxe before Lucas' older brother lunged at him to tackle him to the ground.

Lucas launched himself at the other two youngsters, his jaws hanging, his eyes wide open as if he was going to eat them alive. The two young people took fright and they dropped their pickaxe at their feet before fleeing. When Lucas stood back up, his sister was already going in the distance following Nina a few metres ahead of her.

"We'll be back next month," he said to the young man at his feet before running to join them.

They wouldn't come back next month, or the month after. They never attacked the same place repeatedly two months in a row. However, the fear and confusion of their prey also playing to their advantage, they always made them believe in the possibility of an imminent attack. Much more than their inability to defend themselves, the stress of the prey made them weak, irrational and even more vulnerable.