The text was from an unknown number, a simple “Help” came through late in the evening. For hours he thought about what it meant or who it was from and his mind drew blanks. It wasn’t until he’d heard about Hannah Ryers that things began to fall into place. Hannah Ryers, government employee. She’d shared her pain with Ehren and he had begun the process to try and help her. They’d begun to experiment on her in some sort of machine called The Cloud. When he’d seen her she was in bad shape, obviously these experiments had taken its toll on her.
He’d spent the latter part of that evening drinking at Josie’s, trying to forget that he’d failed her. He had set out to help her and his own selfish behavior made her vulnerable. Now she was dead and Ehren wasn’t sure how he was going to live with that on his conscience.
The phone on the counter beside him began to buzz. The message, much like the last, was anonymous and brief. ”Be careful.”
Feeling drunk, he didn’t hear the buzz on his phone at first but when he looked over there was another message on his phone. The same number as before. Quickly he opened it up and replied. Was somebody messing with him?
”Who is this?!” He replied, his hands shaking. It couldn’t be Hannah, she was dead.
”You know who it is. Be careful.” For several minutes, there was an indicator on the screen that the sender was writing another message, but the ellipses finally disappeared when another message did not immediately follow.
He could feel his heart drop in his chest as the next text message came in. He watched the indicator until it disappeared and replied. ”Be careful about what?” he eyed the screen, feeling tears form in the corner of his eyes. This had to be some kind of sick joke.
”You’re in the system now. You weren’t before. They found you.” Again, there was a long pause as another message was in the process of being sent. This time, it did go through successfully, albeit the content was vague. ”The window is open.”
”Are you trapped?” he sent to her, hoping to get a more straight forward reply this time. She was right, he knew she had been. That was why he’d kept it a secret for so long, why he was upset when they finally found out. What if he was next?
”We’re all trapped.” was the quick reply. ”You have to act fast while the window is still open. They won’t leave it long.”
”What window? What are you talking about?” The more Ehren thought he understood the less he actually did. Was she telling him he needed to escape? That now was the time? He wasn’t sure he was ready to leave, not when all the people he cared about were still around.
This time, there was no text response. Just when enough time passed that it seemed there would be no response, the phone began to ring. However, no number showed up on the caller ID.
Ehren waited for the next reply and when one didn’t come his heart began to sink. Until the phone started ringing. He stared at it for a moment before answering it. “Hello?” He said into the receiver.
There was static and feedback on the other end of the line. But beneath it all was a voice, automated yet also vaguely familiar. “The network is open. But not for long. Now is the chance to try to connect with the outside.”
“How?” He pleaded with her, or whatever she was now. It didn’t seem like her, like she was a machine but there was something so familiar with it still. He didn’t know anything about communication and even if he did, her words were so vague.
“Any way that you can, if you want to survive.” The voice cut out abruptly and the line went dead. But without warning, the line connected once more and was clear for only a few seconds. The voice then sounded almost human. Almost. “Be careful.”
He looked at his phone in shock, the last part really sounded like her. She was reaching out to him. Why him of all people? Ehren only wanted to help her, he didn’t actually know how. Did she figure out he was in the Faction? Was that why she reached out to him? He had so many questions and no one to answer them. Not anymore.
When there was no reply, the silence was shattered by a pop of static on the line. The voice returned again, it sounded a lot like Hannah’s real voice, but this time it was a bit more forceful. “Get it together. While you still have the chance.”
“Okay okay, I’ll do something.” He replied, feeling his fear begin to set in. He’d never stop having questions but she needed him to do this for her so he was going to do it.
“And take care of yourself.” The line went dead, absent of static and any sound. No texts followed either, it was almost as if no messages had been sent at all.