Echoes
Cycle: Unknown
Subject Status: Unknown
Location: Outside Network Boundary
---
Jonah
He doesn't know how long they've been running.
The world outside feels like a dream too—bright, harsh, loud in all the wrong ways. The sun stings. The air scrapes.
He squints against the glare. The streets are hollowed out. Cars left sideways. Glass shattered. The hum—it's here too. Familiar. Wrong.
A city on pause.
"We're out," Elias says, staring down the street. No relief in his voice. Just waiting—for the catch.
Jonah tries to speak. His throat burns. Metallic taste. Dread. Is this escape—or another layer?
"What is this?" he rasps.
Elias doesn't answer right away. Just stares at a giant screen overhead, its image broken. Glitching text blinks in and out:
—CONCORDIA: SYSTEM MALFUNCTION DETECTED—
Jonah steps closer. Everything bends. Air. Buildings. The people—they pass like ghosts. Half-real.
"Elias…" he starts.
"They're here," Elias says. "It's not just simulation."
Jonah turns. Faces. Dozens. Watching from the shadows. Pale. Hollow. Like they don't belong anywhere either.
"Are they like us?"
"Maybe."
The hum swells. Pressure builds behind Jonah's eyes. The system hasn't stopped. It can't stop.
"We're not safe," Elias mutters. "They'll come. They always do."
---
CONCORDIA SYSTEM LOG
Breach: Unauthorized Exit
Containment Level Alpha Initiated
Network Handoff: Subdivision Pending
---
Elias
The world doesn't feel real anymore.
Jonah looks wrecked. Haunted. The cracks in his mind, wide open.
"Do you remember?" he asks, voice empty.
Elias flinches.
The apartment. A woman. A kid. Laughter. It's there—then gone.
"I remember her. Caleb."
Elias shakes his head. "Stop."
But Jonah won't. "Her voice. His hand in mine."
It hits Elias. Raw. Sudden.
Caleb.
Real?
The hum twists, sharp and high. The watchers move—closer.
"They're coming."
Elias grabs Jonah, pulls him down an alley. The city folds. Screens flicker.
And then—
A voice, low and slow:
"You thought you escaped?"
---
CONCORDIA SYSTEM LOG
Active Retrieval Protocol Deployed
Parallel Network Engaged
Subject Status: Unstable
---
The voice grows louder.
It's not familiar.
Not yet.
But soon—
They'll know it.
This isn't over.
---