Crowd: A Dystopian Social Network Thriller (Final Draft)

Collision Cream

Hospital.

The nurse walked out the room to allow Camryn and Lory privacy. The antiseptic smell penetrated his noise. A stiff bed sheet covered his body wrapped in a gown.

Lory sat to his left, near a nightstand, wearing modest clothes. "How do you feel?"

The memory bits returned.

The auto-limo.

The warning.

The crash.

Camryn wanted to shake off the terrible memory. "What does the police say?"

"Illegal street racers under the influence of alcohol and syn drugs."

"Sounds like some dystopian world. How could that happen?"

"I don't know if you watch the news, but crime is on the rise."

Camryn threw her a look.

"Sorry."

Tension tore inside him. An energy strong enough to rip the room apart. "From all the drivers last night, the drunk idiot rams my car? Hardly a coincidence."

"Do you believe he had a motive?"

"I have the brand logo on my auto-limo. Was the guy on Crowd?"

"I don't know."

"What was his name?"

"Rico Gonzales."

Camryn used the search function of his Crowd interface to look up a member with the name. No one showed up. He couldn't be a disconnected one, could he?

"Are you sure the spelling is correct?"

"Maybe he's just not on Crowd."

"Maybe he's a hater who wanted to teach me a lesson."

"I really believe he was just a drunk racer. The area's known for illegal races. Maybe you shouldn't have taken the shortcut."

"Maybe that's just an excuse."

"How so?"

He returned her eye contact. "If you're in my position, you make so many enemies it's pointless to count them." He closed his eyes. "This is the price for changing the world, Lory. You become the bullseye for bigots."

"My cousin once caused a crash and almost died. Thankfully, no one got seriously hurt. He wasn't drunk, but it was late at night, and he didn't see the other driver. It's terrible, it's unfair, but it happens."

"It shouldn't. Especially not with today's technology."

A thousand thoughts stormed through Camryn's mind. Half of them framed the useless 'why me' question. The other half wished terrible things to the driver who had almost taken his life. But hatred wasn't practical. Action beget change.

"What's the point of having an advance auto-fleet when renegade drivers go full Mad Max?"

Lory shrugged. Camryn did what he had to do. "I have to call the mayor."

Lory motioned to leave.

"No, stay. I want you to listen to this."

"Are you sure?"

"It's time to help our mayor make this city better."

He took three deep breaths and rang the mayor's number via his AR call function.

One second passed.

Two.

Three.

Four.