Crowd: A Dystopian Social Network Thriller (Final Draft)

Burning Down The Block

Rain hunkered down in the enclosed chamber. Time passed like molasses in January. She felt like she had been stuck there for weeks even though it had been only two hours. She tried to meditate or at least focus on the positive stuff, but her mind plagued her with horror scenarios.

Was she ever going to leave this place? With no possibility to contact anyone via the network, she was cut off from the rest of the world.

Maybe her parents would find her a couple of months later, her skeleton covered in concrete dust. They'd put her in a grave near their hometown with the words told you so engraved on her tombstone.

No way.

In the worst case, Rain would break through window barricades and climb down—fall down, if necessary. Some broken bones were better than being stuck in this dank mess of a room, imprisoned by this civil militia or whatever they ascribed to.

"Don't worry," Sasha said, as he observed the streets through the slits between the bars. "We won't be stuck here for long."

"How do you know?"

"Something's already going on."

Rain stood up and joined his side in front of the windows. Outside, the darkness covered the streets like an iron curtain. The street lamps malfunctioned. The only light came from the make-shift flashlights and lamps in the neighboring houses. The dim rays shone through the narrow window cracks and made the tenants look like survivors from a zombie apocalypse.

"Curfew time," Sasha said with a glance at his watch.

Rain's pulse raced again. A few shady figures crossed the street like ninjas. "What are they doing?"

"We're about to find out."

Shouts echoed through the streets. Rain instinctively ducked but had to peek through the window corner to see what was going on. A group of people marched through the street, looking like a mob. Ten Red Blockers walked out of their house and gathered on the street to make three different formations of rioters in urban survival gear.

Even the dank air inside the chamber tasted like fire.

"Don't they know the curfew has started?"

"I think that's their point."

And here they were, stuck in a squatted house filled with Red Block rioters. At least Sasha was by her side, strong and armed. Rain hated to admit it, but she welcomed his stunbolt and even the PEPS gun in her secret holster, although she prayed she'd never had to use it.

The Red Block groups outside used megaphones and chanted something about state oppression and police violence.

"They're really asking for trouble," Rain said like a commenter watching a sport's event.

In a matter of a minute, an armored personnel carrier with anti-riot police arrived with screeching tires. The heavily-armed units walked out the rear hatch, unfolded their shields, and marched in special line formations to counteract the mob. The street was about to look like a medieval battlefield.

Sasha knelt and produced a knife from his boots.

"Tactical military blade," he said and inserted the tip of the edge between the slits of the window bars. He used his body strength to break the bars from the window. Two bars down, he pushed his body through the new opening and planted his boots on the outside window ledge.

"What the hell are you doing?" Rain asked.

"Get away from the jammer signal and call our cruiser. You stay inside."

"Are you crazy?"

Stupid question; of course he was. Rain wanted to follow up but a quick look down froze her nerves. She was on the top floor and one wrong step meant she'd end up as a bleeding pancake. "Don't worry," Sasha said as he climbed his way to the window ledges below. "I've done this before."

Rain bit her lip. Her fingertips sparked with electricity. She hated standing around, doing nothing but worrying.

Rain walked around the dirty room. Muffled shouts sounded through the outside corridor.

Stay calm.

Stay calm, she mumbled.

She looked out the window opening. Sasha had made it to the third floor while Red Blockers and anti-riot officers faced each other in the dark street. The cool night reeked of a chemical agent that numbed her tongue.

Someone hammered against her room's door and shouted, "Who's there—identify yourself."

It wasn't the police, but another squatter or Red Blocker. It was better to stay silent. Maybe they would go away.

"We've seen you trying to flee," the guy shouted.

Shit. Rain should have stayed the hell away from the window, then it dawned on her, maybe they had seen Sasha playing Spiderman.

"Are you from the police?"

"I work for Crowd."

The fists hammered on the door. "Open the fucking door."

Didn't they lock her in?

"Leave me alone."

The door bulged. Either the guy kicked against the door or used some hardened object to breakthrough. Rain stood up and unsheathed her PEPS gun. One cartridge, one shot.

The door broke open and a masked Red Blogger stumbled inside. Rain pointed the PEPS at him and forced calmness into her voice. "Stay where you are."

"You cop bitch."

"I already told you—"

It was useless. The guy and his comrade were high on rage and god knows what else. With their masks covering their mouth and nose, it was impossible to scan them.

Rain stepped back, nearing the half-opened the windows.

"Leave me alone. I'm just an advisor."

The front guy stormed forward, and Rain squeezed the button and fired. The pulse ablated the surface air at point-blank range and knocked the guy against the nearby wall. The second attacker tried to flank her from the right. Rain was fumbling for her second cartridge when the masked man rammed into her and they both fell to the dusty ground.

"You bitch!"

Adrenaline raged inside Rain. Flight-or-fight response kicked in, even though she lay on the ground, unable to move. The guy forced himself on top of her and pushed her down with his left hand then tried to hit her with the right. Rain screamed so loud he flinched.

She used the distraction to unleash the stunbolt with her right hand and jabbed the unfolded stick into the attacker's ribcage. High-voltage zapped through the thug, causing him to spasm and cry out.

Rain pushed him to the side, swung the bolt like a baseball bat, and hit the guy in the head, knocking him out.

With the other man crawling on the ground, Rain fled the chamber. She pushed another cartridge into her PEPS gun and tried to hail Sasha again, but the connection remained offline on her end.

What to do? Shouts sounded from the nearby staircase. More Red Blockers lurked in the area but their words confused her.

Fire, fire.

Were they shooting each other now?

Rain trained her PEPS pistol and walked toward the entrance of the staircase when a shadow rushed up behind her. The guy almost knocked her over and yelled something inaudible. Rain wanted to shoot the guy in the back but he ignored her and ran down the stairs.

What in the world was going on?

She turned back to look down the corridor. Smoke poured from a nearby room and blew into the corridor.

Fire.