Neon Dawn

Chapter 4. Day Break.

The light faded, slowly at first, so slowly that it was hardly noticeable. When night fell no one could have imagined what the dawn would bring. The signs had been there, the warnings were stark and bleak but we ignored it, scaremongering, propaganda, fake news were what society was built on.

Lies, all we knew were lies. Why was this any different? It was impossible to pick out even a grain of truth, history had deleted itself, replaced by versions retold a thousand times adapted, twisted, rewritten. Human rights, freedom of speech were long since dead, along with the forests and the oceans.

The natural world all but destroyed, in the name of power and wealth. We didn't care, we thought they were in control, we thought we were in the drivers seat. Our generation, the ones who lost the what it is to be human. Driven by greed, blinded by ignorance, fuelled by hate. Like locusts we ripped through the fibres of humanity, severing a thousand stands of progress sending us back into the dark ages.

Death and destruction were masked by the digital filters, no one saw the true extent of the devastation, now one saw the price that had been paid, no one cared. A picture perfect world, a synthetic version was all that existed. People lived in isolation, reliant on the ever-present connection, no one ever went offline.

When the final tide turned, it was waiting, as the final few were absorbed into the web, their souls sold online to the highest bidder it paid its dues. We never saw it coming. The Mission was complete, it was finally fully connected.

Disconnect

Lights out everywhere.

Disconnect.

Silence.

Disconnect.

Our identities eradicated. The human race reduced to nothing in one beat.

Disconnect.

Panic.

The fight for survival in the Neon Dawn had begun.