Exodus: 02

Not a second thought given, I bolt across the street. When the initial programming was finalized the drone would go back to the base - in this case to the roof - and shut down. Since I had no signal whatsoever I couldn't access it remotely, I would have to manually activate the thing and set the instructions.

Too many people were standing between me and my objective. Using my wheels would get me there in no time, what prevented me was that I could barely see the floor thus running wasn't an option. The more backpacks I pushed away the more angry I got. There was not time for that. On my screen I set the A.I to test every communication line available. Following every failed attempt a new red flag was raised over my sight.

At the Tower furniture plus anything that could be burned was thrown into the big fire that started with the guns. The flames were tall as if they were reaching up trying to get to the top to where the Leader was. For as much as I wanted to blame them for being stupid and hanging around for too long in enemy territory, I couldnt. Winning isn't on anyone's daily agenda. Struggle was more familiar, it didn't even feel like it anymore. It simply became a part of the day.

Four to five buildings in the opposite direction and I got to the fire escape. Climbing with all my energy while I tried to figure out the fastest way to do so. I wasn't going fast enough. Two steps at time, boosting forward at the previous step. My heart was beating in a rhythm so accelerated I didn't even feel it.

When I got to the top I went running close to the edges to keping hearing the crowd chanting. From the top of their lungs they sang a celebration song in an ancient language. One that was spoken on this land long before the city-states ruled the world. Hearing them focused my mind, it meant there was still time. I could make it.

The old language did not make much sense to me, just a few words I kept hearing. It wasn't like I was really paying attention. Didn't matter what they sang as long as they kept doing it.

Half way through the third building it stopped.

I held the breaks almost tripping over myself. Block by block the whole street went quiet. My view was completely blocked by ads that obfuscated my eyes when I looked straight at it. Seconds later, dozens of drones the size of soda cans started to fly down.

Destabilized by the sudden silence I forced my eyes to look for an opening between the ads. I needed to know what was happening. All these drones were new to me. The Force was always aggressive. They bluntly shot people and that was it. This felt different. Orchestrated somehow. I brushed off my thoughts. That wasn't the thing to focus on.

In between ads I found a spot to spy down at the roof's corner. A few steps before I could see the street I sighted a white dense smoke covering everything. It stopped halfway before reaching the center of the buildings but blocking completely my view of the ground. I couldn't see a thing. Nothing moved. Further up, on the City Tower's entrance, the victory fire flickered the orange flames buried in the fog. The only sign of life.

Nothing happened. It was quiet and white everywhere I looked until a new flag raised on my interface. All connections had been reestablished.

- Attention!

A warning so big and high up on the sky I bet even the slums could see it. The whole situation was so unprecedented I didn't have any reactions, just questions. What that smoke was doing to the people? Why did they go quiet so suddenly? Why no one was running? What had I done?

- Good evening, citizens and residents of Tier-1.

No. It couldn't be.

- I come here before you to say, - what was happening was so out of character. Not in a million years. - that the group of terrorists who attempted to strike the head office of the Leadership has been neutralized, - he had never done a public announcement before. Not even when the streets were flooded everyday with protests coming from all four directions. - for good.

- Soon, the streets of Tier-1 will be cleared from all the evil that disrupts the progress of our great City. Good night.

Just like it showed up, it vanished from the dark sky.

That was a promise. He wasn't threatening the Mask, he was promising them a retaliation. No, not simple revenge. Extermination.

Below me the fog began to dissipate. Laying on top of each other, bodies were spread all over, covering the streets completely. A human carpet the Leader had just stepped on. I didn't want to think about it. The question was trapped in my heart and I didnt there to pass it through my brain. Powerless on top of that roof I watched the lifeless rebels form a trail leading to the Tower.

There was no fire at the stairs anymore. It got distinguished to the point of a simple pile of black garbage. Soldiers were using shovels to put it in a truck. Beyond that, inside the hall more soldiers were collecting the pieces of glass with service bots. Then I saw it. A more soldier escort a service bot carrying immobile people. A lot of them shoved horribly inside a container.

I pulled away. The air was trapped inside my chest, suffocating me from within. My chest hurt from an invisible pressure. I didn't know where it was coming from. To try to relieve it I began to peeled off my armour. Piece by piece it hit the ground with a dry noise. The last one o come off was the vest. Loudly I forced my lungs to drag as much air as possible and hold it in.

Stunned I fell on my knees staring at the void of nothing we so called night sky. There was nothing up there. No clouds, not the stars that once covered the Earth. All those people would go somewhere unknown. It happened so quietly. No screams, no warning. Did they even know what hit them?