𝕔:\𝔽𝕀𝕃𝔼_ℕ𝕆𝕋_𝔽𝕆𝕌ℕ𝔻.𝔼𝕏𝔼 ～ 𝘔𝘳. 𝘙𝘰𝘣𝘰𝘵

05 - F!@#_S0c13ty.pdf

"What..." Jayden mumbles, the officer's response made everything feel much worse. I pull Jayden back, wanting to talk to her privately.

"Elliot, what does he mean?!" She questions and I shake my head slowly. "This guy is screwing with us, there weren't any screens two hundred years ago," I reply and Jayden looks at me with a blank expression.

"He doesn't mean it literally Eli, let's ask him further," She suggests and I nod, "Officer, what exactly happened? Before we went away... everything was fine, everything was working and people were living normally."

The officer rubs his forehead, pouring himself a glass of water from a dusty bottle on the table. He offers us but we both reject.

"One day the city was perfectly okay, then in the next few days everything started to go down hill. The biggest companies started to report computer and electronic failure, buildings and powerhouses started to malfunction. One day, all the advertisements got shut down suddenly. It was a nightmare because it happened at night. Then the worst thing came along, the power started to disappear and the internet... it just malfunctioned and disappeared," The officer narrates and, Jayden and I look at him with shock.

"I'm sorry, the 'internet' doesn't exist anymore?!" I start to panic, a pit in my stomach forming. How the he'll are we supposed to solve this f!@#ed up issue with no internet?!

"I mean, in a way. We have no way to access it. The search engines are all infested and it blocks our phones from receiving the signals," The officer clarified, "That's what they reported."

"I think I'm going to be sick," I mumbled to myself, I felt as if a part of me was sucked out and thrown away to never be found again.

Jayden heard my slight panic. She knudges me slightly, tilting her head to the side. "Thank you officer. You've been a great help," She says and turns around to walk off, I follow her tail.

"And kids, nothing in this city works like before, which includes the transportation. No one is running the taxis," The officer says and me and Jayden sigh at the same time.

We have a long walk ahead...

*****

2 hours later, 11:00 PM...

The plan is to reach the suburbs, sort of, and find a place to stay at. Being dark outside, the visibility is reduced. The street lights aren't on, we depend on our flashlights to illuminate our way. Electricity, a necessity, is gone all of sudden and you could imagine the panic that would have gone down.

Once again, Jayden clings onto my arm and walks close to me as we venture through the dark and cold night. At first I felt uncomfortable but her hold... It comforts me. It reassures me that I'm not alone, I have someone by my side.

"Eli, my legs are starting to ache," She complains tiredly and I frown. The mention of pain made me realise that my legs were sore too. The power of the mind... these large conglomerates trigger our mind unconsciously and brainwash us with their '25% off' or their 'Buy one and get one free'.

It's bullshit.

"Els, we should rest for a bit then continue-"

VRROOOMMM! SCREEECHHH!

We both turn around, the sound is defeaning. Headlights flash before our eyes, blinding me momentarily. I act quickly, pushing Jayden out of the way and jumping to the side as well to avoid collision with the vehicle.

I hear Jayden groan in pain, I'm laying on top of her. I mumble a 'sorry' and move off of her, only to-

Someone grabs my arm and yanks me back and up to my feet. "HEY! WHAT DO YOU-"