Edited by: Kuro and Lille
“As I was saying before, these suicides happen often. People are unable to handle the stress of living in this kind of society ruled by the Lord. The ones who do die by suicide are deemed defective by the Lord and the City Hall. They are given no funeral and no one is allowed to mourn for them.”
Cyan explained while sitting on the bed with Grey.
They were sitting side by side, Grey set his head on Cyan’s shoulder.
“‘Defected’? What? Are we some sort of product or guinea pig?”
Grey paused the moment he said that. Even Cyan looked over at him as if he was hit with a realization.
“We need to do more investigating before we can conclude it, but we can take that as our hypothesis for now.”
He scratched his chin as he tried to think. “I have a plan but it will take some time. Cyan, do me a favor. Try to be conscious of the cameras in your office, and find a blind spot at your desk if you can. Also, memorize the schedules of everyone in your office.”
Grey continued, “When you are ready, let me know. There’s something I will have you do and you are the only one who can do it.”
Out of the two of them, Cyan was the only one who worked at the City Hall where the Lord was supposedly at. If they needed to gather any information about this city and its people, it would be at the City Hall.
Grey knew he could not do this on his own. This mission would be up to Cyan and System 225. He could only support them from the back if they needed it.
“I understand. I will do my best.” Out of all the worlds, this world was the one that Grey relied on him the most so far. He couldn’t let him down!
“Thank you, my love.” Grey kissed him on the cheek.
Though this place was strange, at least he had God System by his side.
*****
Cyan dropped Grey off at the local school and then went to work. He was mindful of everything around him, especially the cameras and his co-workers’ schedules.
Luckily for him, everyone had a set schedule. No one deviated from a set path that was already laid out for them. And the cameras around the office didn’t show their desks because there was classified information there.
It was probably because they were worried that the City Hall would be hacked…
Even though this is what it seemed like, he decided to observe for the rest of the week, putting to memory where everyone was at any given time.
After regaining his memories, Cyan now felt like his days were really slow. No one seemed to have such a problem, but he felt as if everything was boring, slow, and tedious.
Was this what it felt like to have awareness? What were other people thinking about?
Even though his mind wasn’t fully there, Cyan still finished his day and went to pick up Grey.
His job was not far from the school. Grey came into the car exhausted but he didn’t say anything. He just gave a small smile to Cyan and asked him how his day was. Even though he asked, he looked like he didn’t want to talk any further.
So Cyan vaguely told him how his day was. It was short and sweet, in line with the rules of his job.
They drove from the crowded city to the road leading into the suburbs. It was still a part of the XU239, but there was a stretch of road that didn’t have any buildings. Instead, it was a large grassland used for large events and festivals. Occasionally, you would see families having picnics in the grassland. Trees were scattered throughout, providing shade during those picnics.
On the road, many cars were trying to go back home. It was a little slow since it was only a two-lane road.
“It’s always so crowded at this time of day,” Grey complained while looking out the window.
“It’s rush hour. Everyone just wants to go home.”
Before they could say anything else, everyone felt the ground move a bit, like a gentle bump. All the cars stopped, wondering what was happening.
The floor started to vibrate and loud booming sounds resounded through the air.
“It’s an earthquake!” Grey rolled down his windows and shouted to let other people know.
Many people already had their windows down so they heard Grey’s shout. People began to stumble out of their cars, fearing the ground caving in. Grey and Cyan followed suit, going to an open space away from trees. The ground shook violently, indicating that they were pretty close to the epicenter.
In the distance, everyone could see a few buildings tumbling to the ground. Though they couldn’t hear screams, they saw people close to the exit of the city running toward the fields, away from the tall buildings.
Cyan held on to Grey, making sure that the both of them were able to keep themselves standing just in case of the ground cracked open.
The initial earthquake lasted a bit more than 30 seconds, but it seemed like time was moving slowly, especially as they watched the buildings crumble down in the distance.
From Grey’s knowledge, aftershocks lasted anywhere from a couple of weeks to even months. Still, it was good that they were no longer in the city or their lives would have been in considerable danger.
Grey heard a man say, “Does anyone know if it’s safe to go home?”
“Maybe we should wait for law enforcement to come to check the roads and neighborhoods before we continue…” Someone else replied.
Grey looked up at Cyan who was still holding unto him tightly. “Let’s wait for someone to confirm the status of the road and neighborhoods.”
“Okay, we will do as you say,” Cyan replied, loosening his hold on Grey, but still holding him in his arms.
Though everyone was hungry as it was about dinner time, no one complained. Most people stayed in the area, while some daring individuals decided to go check up on the residential area.
Grey and Cyan decided to take a walk, away from people, so they could talk. The two had their phones turned off as this was what they do every time they went into their room to talk.
“I found this kind of strange, but does this town have frequent earthquakes?”
“It happens once a year around the same time. Hm… Now that I think about it, I’m pretty sure it always happens around the time people are getting off of work, so the casualties are kept to a minimum.”
Now that was strange. It has scheduled earthquakes… as if someone was controlling them.
“Are they about this strength too?”
“Yes, each time they are 6.0 magnitude earthquakes.”
Grey absorbed that information and had System 225 note it. There was something suspicious about these earthquakes.
“Are there any other natural disasters that happen to this city?”
“Yeah, we also get tornadoes.”
Tornadoes and earthquakes in the same place? There were no mountains or volcanoes nearby, not even a beach. Though earthquakes can happen anywhere in the world, they don’t usually get this strong when the region also gets tornadoes…
“When do tornadoes come around?”
“Ah… If I recall correctly, it’s at the end of Month 8. It always happens at that time.”
Month 8 was in three months. The months in the year didn’t have names, they were just numbered.
“This is strange… I know you can predict the weather to a certain extent but this feels like it’s all just scheduled… ”
Grey couldn’t help but get goosebumps thinking about this place. This was a dystopian world plot. As for what kind, he had no idea. This city seemed perfect, but it was too perfect to the point that it was suffocating. Everyone was monitored in most places. No one was allowed to deviate and if they did, they would be punished.
From what he could see, this city was living in a bubble.
98% of the population couldn’t leave the area. If they did want to leave, the only way to do so was by dying.
This world was much more dangerous than Grey could have imagined… Even so, he would never let his guard down.
kuro_kama: I knew it when I saw the name of the arc that was named dystopian. I am always scared of this theme. I am a person who is an avid horror enjoyer but the dystopian themes are scarier and creepier than any horror out there for me. They just make me feel so sorrowful, it’s horrible.
GrandpaMarky: First, thank you to the person who donated some money to my Ko-fi! I really appreciate it :D Secondly, I got my next MRI appointment scheduled for the 26th so I got plenty of time to write write write. I talked with my doctor and she's like "Well, we can only hope this isn't cancer and it's just benign." like LADY WHY? Don't tell me that LOL.
Anyway, I'm working on the next two stories I have planned. Really excited about it! One of them, I still need to get a cover though so I'm sure I will figure something out haha. Have a lovely day/night my beautiful grandchildren! :D <3
