NEX:GEN Activate Book One

Section Six

Leo Stain-Garson

Sitting in his kingdom of isolation, a screen flickered in front of him. He looked up at the screen before its digital remains slithered away. He moved his hand away from his sides. The boy held his hand in the air before him. He pressed his hand onto the screen, before the screen drifted away.

Looking at the screen, he saw a message flowing past him. The boy saw a stream of data rushing past his eyes. He understood why no one else could see the stream of data. But he could not help to notice how they moved, like a river flowing for eternity.

His eyes saw a video flash past him. The boy saw a glimpse of what he was before. He had a window from his mother's van between him and the chaos. He saw a woman ripping her hand off from the rest of her body. Her hand was a machine made out of technology.

The boy wondered what the woman had done to her arm. She had angered her mechanical arm enough for it to seek revenge. Her hand wrapped itself around her neck. Squeezing her throat tightly, the arm had made the woman go into a sleep. She collapsed onto the ground.

Remembering what happened, the boy thought back to a few minutes after he saw the woman collapse. He watched in awe, as the world around him seemed to stop. The boy saw the streams of data beginning to slow down, before they stopped. He climbed out of the back of his mother's van. Looking at the surrounding city, he saw the lights begin to flicker off.

His eyes locked with his mother who stood in front of him. She looked amazed by the sight she was seeing. Screen with ads on them flickered off. The first time in years, the city had been shut down.

Looking up at the surrounding city, he saw the darkness beginning to show. The city had fallen into the darkness. He watched with his father standing outside the van. His father had a cloth wrapped over where his mechanical eye would have been. The boy remembered his father removed the cloth when he got home from work. Before the hacker took control over the city.

Glancing away from his parents, the boy looked up towards the sky. For a moment he could see no streams of data rushing past his eyes. He looked up to see a beautiful sight. The sky above had lit up with small dots he never saw before. And then the streams came rushing back past his eyes, faster than before.

Leaning back in his chair, the boy remembered his time with his father and mother. They had done something to help the world. But no one was allowed to know.

In the room, the boy looked at the streams of data rushing past his eyes. He saw many images and videos going past him. He saw a message his mother sent to his father moments before.

A smile lit up on his face. The boy looked over his shoulder. He heard a knock on his door. Looking over his shoulder at the doorway. He saw a camera feed from outside the door, drift past him. The boy reached his hand towards the feed. His fingertip touched the feed. In a flicker of his eyes, the feed stopped before him.

On the feed, the boy saw a girl around his age. She stood in the hallway outside his hotel room. The girl stood with her flowing blond hair racing down her back. She smiled up at the camera in the hallway. Her hand lowered from the door.

"Have you seen the news?" She spoke to him from the camera. "Leo."

The sound of his name made the boy's eyes light up. He wondered if his eyes sparkled. Like when the city had gained power, last year. He turned around in his chair, to get a good look at the girl.

"What news?" He felt the fear slithering into his blood.

The boy had a fear of others. He knew the human condition could be unpredictable. He liked to keep himself out of the news. Each flicked of a stream passed by him, had nothing about his name.