Future

Blurry, numb, confused. With a few painful blinks, reality is formed. I am entombed by cold steel… I, who am I. ‘Ben’ comes to mind but not a memory more. A thawing pane of thick glass allows muffled light to struggle through. The cold, metal surface in front of me floats open with a puff of steam, unsettling the heavy lining of dust ubiquitous in the space. Stumbling out of the coffin-like chamber, I make my way to the nearest window, wiping it off and peering through, dazed. The landscape confused me, it was so familiar but I could not name it. Commanding buildings rose from an army of city blocks. Smoke lurked around every corner, gushing from irregular cracks in the earth. Around the building-scape, rivers of green liquid progress slowly, to a destination out of sight. But one singular structure, or lack-thereof, caused a rush of thoughts to hit me like a wall. A perfect rectangle, gigantic, littered with rotting trees and stumps, lay in the centre of all the looming structures. The change from brick to beech was sudden, and characteristic to only one location. “Was this, Manhattan”? I stutter to myself. It must have been, everything I saw was so similar to the city I knew, but as if someone had thrown black and grey paint all over it, and trampled on the architecture with a giant metal boot. I push the window lightly, but a gust of wind caught it, smashing it against the outside wall. I watched the glass shards plunge toward the concrete far below, breaking the eerie silence as they shatter, skipping across the asphalt lake. I was about to lean back inside but something caught my eye, movement. Below the imminent tower I peered from, hundreds of figures mulled around slowly, unfazed by the suicidal glass. People! I thought. I began to recall family members and friends. Maybe some were down there. I turned around and dashed toward an exit at the back of the room.

Stairs led down into darkness. One. Two. Three. Four. Bounding down the steps I started to subconsciously count them. Forty-five. Forty-six, Forty-seven. I had to be getting close. One hundred and eighteen. One hundred and nineteen. The cold concrete walls seemed to drop forever. Four hundred. At this point I couldn’t tell if I had been descending for hours or seconds, my mind was scattered. Stone floor turned to wood, creaking under my now light, skulking steps. I was approaching the ground. Upon arrival I stare out onto the street and spot a group of people I had noticed from above. I run out to them. Something doesn’t feel right. I attempt to interact with these, bodies, but their faces are blank. They all look similar but not quite identical, small features setting them apart like a scar on an upper lip, or a crooked nose slightly larger than the last. Wandering aimlessly, they drift away, leaving me frozen in time, confused by the encounter.

From the ground I realise the buildings I thought to be gigantic were undervalued. They were colossal. Larger than anything I could remember from… before. How had it all changed so quickly. Walking on, I realise the cracks I’d seen in the ground were massive crevasses, the smoke emitted by them pluming out by the ton. The green liquid from the rivers found itself flowing throughout the city also, simmering sharply, hissing at me to stay back. Beyond the city blocks an abrupt, piercing light pulses momentarily and goes dark. The beacon, although gone, was coercing me to discover it. GO, GO, GO, GO. My thoughts were drowned out. RUN, RUN, RUN. My body taken over. Before I knew it I was pacing through the city, full sprint. Light blazes again. Closer. The voices in my head more urgent than before. Nothing else matters. The further I run the heavier the wind gets. Brick peels from buildings like the skin of an orange, crashing to the ground around me. I come to an abrupt stop and process my surroundings. Crumbling stone walls reach up on both sides as if they’re looking for a way out of this nightmare. In front of me is a small drop, down to a structure different from the rest. It’s wide like a stadium, with long clear windows running along the roof. Cables buzzing with energy criss cross over it. A staggering metal rod stands taller than the stone walls, pulsing with light once again. This building was strong, not decaying like the rest of the city. With frightened bravery, I scramble down the ledge and squint through one of the windows. What I see sends shivers through my body. Thousands of metal coffins, like the one I got out of, with windows at head height. Every single one has someone inside, frozen.