About A Hum, A Dystopian 500 Word Flash Fiction

Original photo @writerofage

The world did not see it coming. In greed, delight, a fervor that only grows on the offset of unknown riches, distributed to the first there, the quickest to see and nurture it. Blockchain had changed everything. The World Trade Dollar disappeared overnight. Of course it wasn’t over a single evening, but it seemed that way. One day, the monetary hierarchy collapsed. Blockchain stepped in. We never knew what it really was. Until it was too late. Then, money didn’t matter.

The faint blue light faded. One. Two. It flickered back, bright flashes. Pen stayed quiet. You never knew what kind it was. They hadn’t yet gotten all five senses together, in one. Quiet, still, hidden, covered, and fucked. Pen stayed quiet.

A hum, soft, the kind that emanated, she could feel it, hung in the air. The light drifted back in, no longer flickering. A steady haunting thing. She didn’t dare look. That was usually a last mistake. She’d seen enough people look. Nope, stay still, try not to shit yourself, and wait. She looked across from her. Sams sat wide-eyed, it could have been the lighting, that cold blue. She knew better, Sams was white with terror. He hadn’t been out here much, coming down from the mountains, it was a whole different world. Pen shook her head, a sparse gesture, but it worked.

Sometimes, just feeling better…the light faded again, resuming its flicker. Damned floating tin-cans. The light disappeared, casting the room to near darkness. She looked back at Sams, he was visibly relieved. Smelled like it too. She laughed, but stifled it quick. “Hey, this was your idea.”

She ran off quick, into the dim-lit hall, leaving him to run after her. The R-Node could be seen, searching with its blue light. They were in the local mall, it patrolled on the other walkway. Well, it used to be a mall. Now. Sams caught up, puffing fury. Probably more at himself for being so scared.

She laughed. She remembered a time when a girl and guy would go to the mall together. Sams was the kind of guy that would have been frightened either way. That hum, it still burred in their ears. It buzzed and grew.

“Oh no.”

The words barely escaped her lips. A bright blue light burned to life right below them. The damned, non-working escalator?! They were caught. Rabbits in the trap. The R-Node blared at them, it shrieked a piercing light, and wailed a horrid alarm.

“I told you this was a bad idea.” Pen said.

They were lucky, this one only had two senses, sight and sound. The ones with taste…that shit was crazy. She pulled out an eviscerator from her pocket. The wave-emitter was tuned to AG, she pointed it at the blaring A.I. and fired. It grew silent and fell, all the silver melted.

The End

A local, Steemit Fantasy Fiction Writer, gone rogue. Writing whatever he wishes. If seen…