The wind was chilling. Kayla had left her bedroom window open to feel the smooth waves on her skin. The atmosphere was not too different to be noticed easily. Everyone was sleeping. Or rather there was no one around the neighbourhood.

"I wonder why everyone has left. It's seriously not that horrible that you have to skip town."

Kayla looked towards the sky and pondered upon the survival instinct of the human nature. The various signal broadcasting towers spread all around were under heavy load even at this hour. The whole city had fallen into a sort of communication blackout.

Kayla picked up her Glassius lying beside her bed and began to dial Ray, fully aware of the condition of cell signal. She was convinced it'd get through somehow. However, she was proved wrong when the call refused to connect.

"Oh well. At least I tried." said Kayla as her phone parted from her ear.

Immediately, it began to rang and it displayed Ray's face on top. She picked it up and began to talk.

"Hey, thought you'd be willing to talk to me right about now."

"Ray! How did you get my bike back home so fast?!"

"Well. That was pretty easy to pull off to be honest."

"Will you explain?"

"Basically, I had my beacon teleport me back to the lab, then I grabbed your bike and teleported to the city again."

"You can teleport?!"

"It's the future. Duh."

"Woah."

"You're seriously amazed by that? That tech is way old."

"I've only heard of it just now."

"I guess you're also wondering how we're able to talk given the present condition of the city."

"Yep. I am."

"Well this call isn't coming through the normal lines. It's going through my private cell tower."

"You have your own cell tower?! That's wicked, dude!"

"I know."

"But don't you need like a permit or something for it to work."

"Nope. Getting that is way too hard and expensive. So I just run it without one."

"Isn't it illegal? What if someone saw it and reported you?

"That's where you're wrong. My cell tower is underground."

"You have an underground cell tower? How does that work?"

"Pretty much the same as a normal one except it's signals can go through any material."

"But what if someone breaches the frequency and taps into the calls and hears everything?"

"That's impossible. All they're gonna hear is gibberish and incomprehensible words."

"You mean that there's a filter?"

"Yes. The filter can only be bypassed with a key which only I have."

"Ray." Kayla paused for a moment "Did you hack my device and set it on your frequency?"

"Well. Yes. That's true. Is there a problem?"

"No. Just curious."

The sun is still shining in it's full glory but for some reason the weather is not as warm and humid as it should be. She steps towards her window and activates Night Mode on the glass.

Kayla looks up to the sky and sees the Earth floating above along with a plentitude of other stars.

"Ray. What If we went back to Earth?"

"Huh. Why though?"

"I don't know. I just feel like something is calling me there."

"Are you seeing things now?"

"No. I'm serious." Kayla replies "Every time I gaze upon the Earth, I can feel something within me. Like a voice."

"Are you sure you didn't hit yourself on the head on the way home?"

"No. I'm perfectly sane."

"Well just so you know, there's no one on Earth. It's just a wasteland. It's been like that for a lot of time now."

"I know. But somewhere down there under the fire and ash, I can feel a friendly force."

"Oh sure."

"Even though all we can see of Earth right now is the dust covering the atmosphere and the yellow colored haze roaming about on the surface. But I feel there's more to it than that."

"That's deep. What do you have in mind?"

"Maybe we can take your spaceship and go for a ride."

"Sure. It definitely won't crash in someone's backyard on our way there."

"I mean, after you fix it."

"I don't know if you know this but fixing a spaceship is no easy task. I need a huge amount of materials for that."

"Where are you gonna get them?"

"It's not exactly easy but I have sources."

"Let me know when you finish it so we can go visit Earth. I want to see it with my own eyes."

"It's the same thing you see from here."

"I know but I want to experience space as well."

"Of course. Don't we all?"

"I don't understand why people can be so cruel. I mean, why send soldiers to kill innocent people? Why do such terror attacks?"

"They did this to cripple the hold of the government and to create hate in the hearts of the public."

"Exactly, but the people are all mute right now. I don't know how they're taking it so well."

"How beautiful it is to stay silent, when someone expects you to be enraged. That's what's happening."

"Come to think of it. I've heard that some——"

The next few sounds are of Kayla screaming in pain and a loud thud of something falling on the floor followed by the sound of the Glassius impacting the wooden floorboards.

"Kayla! Kayla! Are you there?! Kayla?!" Ray responds.

Her parents had heard the commotion and reached the scene by now. Ray had disconnected the call to let her parents take care of her.

Kayla was unresponsive to everything around her.

Kayla along with 3 other children her age was sitting in an empty room consisting of a chair and a window in a corner meeting the ceiling. 2 people were sitting behind the glassed enclosure. The hazy window was obscuring their faces. The room itself was painted white all over. A man wearing a long lab coat entered thorough the only door present in the room. He proceeded to flip through some papers he had on him before brandishing a small black colored dagger and approaching them one by one. The doctor grabs hold of the first child and forces the dagger through his tiny hand. The screams can be heard echoing in the small room over and over again.

The doctor collects the blood and moves onto Kayla. The kid has been rushed out by now by 2 fully armored soldiers. The same dagger goes through Kayla as well as the blonde boy next to her. She's escorted outside while the doctor does his job on the final child.

However this time it's not the kid who's screaming but the doctor. He had been impaled in his leg by the same dagger and was on the floor in pain. The child simply took a run for it outside the door in an attempt to escape. Dodging the guards effectively. She flew past Kayla on her run, but was stopped by the barrage of lasers she received from behind her. Her evasion comes to an end as she falls on her face. The soldiers escorting Kayla and the other kids were the harbingers of her demise. Kayla sees her body covered in blood and holes, bullet holes. The doctor also reaches the scene albeit slowly, and blares some obscenities before ordering the grunts to take her body to the incinerator.

"She is of no use to us now. Get rid of her."

The redhead was still writhing in pain, choking on her own blood as she's dragged away leaving a blood trail on the white marble floor. She grabs ahold of Kayla's leg in a desperate attempt for survival, but is easily overpowered and forced to let go.

"How beautiful it is to stay silent when someone expects you to be enraged. Isn't that right, Naida? It was nice to know you." she says to Kayla with a smile on her face. Moments later she tries to break free again, but catches a laser beam on her arm.

Her screams and pleads become louder and louder as she's dragged away. They continue until being completely silenced by the rifle of the men taking her away. Kayla is led back towards the long, narrow hallway, but only after she's seen it all happen. The words keep spiralling in her head the whole way. Her leg is covered in blood.

"Pesky wastes of oxygen! Take this report to Melinda and tell the general to meet me at E2. There's something we need to discuss."

The doctor limps away in the darkness to the unknown.

Kayla shifts back into reality after this fiasco. She's on her bed and her mother is sitting by her side, holding her hand. The sky is overcast with clouds of rain. Natlia notices her daughter is awake and becomes attentive.

"Honey, are you okay?"

"I'm feeling a bit lightheaded. What happened to me?"

"You collapsed near the window there. Your father says it's probably due to the heat."

"Where is he now?"

"He's downstairs."

'How long has it been?"

"A little over 2 hours."

Kayla ran her eyes over her room. It was the same as before. Nothing had changed.

Her mother felt relieved now that Kayla had woken up.

"It's gonna rain soon."

"I hope it does. The weather looks very cool though."

The first drops of rain are coming down from the sky. Streaking across the window of the room.

"I'll go get your father."

"Okay."

Natlia stood up and started towards the door.

"Mom" Kayla asks "Who's Naida?"

A bolt of lightning flashes across the sky followed by a clap of thunder.