Save me from the dark side (English version)

Something Human

Lying in bed, Abi was reading. His parents were still fighting, and he was stuck at home. The city council initially tried to take measures to stop the epidemic, but nothing had really worked in the beginning. In three years, however, new ways had finally been developed to contain it.

While the young boy dreamed of going out, training for combat, and having a drink with his only two friends, he was confined instead. He’d had a big fight with his parents, as always, with insults, and he was now deprived of freedom. He was 16 years old, and his own family treated him like a little kid. A little girl, to be more precise, and he hated it. Meanwhile, Dom and Chris had to fight super powerful enemies and play hero. His biggest regret was not being able to see them anymore. Since the beginning of the epidemic, three years earlier, their work prevented them from seeing the child. One day, Abi had become violently angry at his friends, screaming his pain at being abandoned. He apologized, the policemen apologized, but he still felt sad and alone.

Yet he had hope. The "Zompires" were getting scarcer and scarcer, and the alarm detecting the runaways had sounded much less than had been expected. While everyone anticipated several leaks per month, the alarm had only sounded three times. Once for Paul Harper, two years ago, and another time probably because of a technical problem. It had only rung for a short time, without indicating a place to go. And now a third time several hours ago. According to Chris, someone was coming. In the three years prior, only one runaway, now dead.

The teenager listened carefully; his parents had calmed down. Then suddenly he was startled: his phone was ringing. He didn't feel like talking to anyone today, but the name that popped up on his screen changed his mind.

"Dom?" 

Dom was talking fast. Too fast. And as his words slowly entered Abi's brain, the boy blinked.  "This can't be happening."

******

Matthew looked at the tape in the palm of his hands. He had left notes behind, in case someone else was in the same situation, but the tape seemed to hold too many secrets to leave it there. It had been three years since Matt arrived in the Dark Side. He discovered a hiding place a year after he had arrived, when he had no hope. There, he found a notebook, signed with Harper's name, and a tape. Who would have thought that the biology teacher at the high school he performed at before coming to the Dark Side had also been there? Who would have thought he knew so much? Certainly not Matt.

He had been preparing for a long time. Three months before his departure, he was missing only two things. The first was to decipher parts of the tape. The second was to find a vehicle-- or rather the vehicle that would allow him to escape, a sublime red car. Thanks to Paul Harper, he quickly found it. How had such a vehicle ended up in such a nightmarish world? At first glance, it looked like any other car. Except for a few changes, such as a small lever on the front and the fact that the guitarist would never have had the money to buy one like it. The license plate on the car read "DRKSIDE". Matt, with his vivid imagination, decided to give it the sweet nickname of "Darkside". Darkside would enable his escape from the Dark Side. He laughed a little at the thought. Not much, however, because first he had to learn to drive it and master the little controller, the most important element.

Three years and one month after his arrival, everything was ready. By escaping, he hoped to finally find his two friends. He had wandered all over his prison without ever seeing them. This had reassured him; at least they were surely in a more welcoming place. Perhaps his next destination?

"Goodbye Murph."

In a flash, the car was gone.

The evening light blinded him. It must have been around 5:00 p.m., and fortunately for him, he had sunglasses on. The environment where he appeared seemed to be a desert. It was a desert, why had Matt even wondered? He had driven for twenty minutes, and still no building was in sight. It was only half an hour later that he saw an arcade. He parked Darkside and opened the door. The place seemed open; the terminals were still working, the lights were still on, and some music could be heard. Everything seemed normal, except for a few details. There were posters. Too many signs that all looked the same. Matthew tore one down and looked at it. It said, "Beware of the epidemic!" and the picture on it was... He thought for a moment. He was not in his world. This was yet another place, and yet the epidemic was just as present. He was going to have to be careful; Murph surely had several ways to stop him, and besides, there was an epidemic that made people want to kill furiously. Great.