8:34PM
Jane’s heart was pounding. They were onto her. In Dante City, the penalty for using any form of Simulata device was “re-programming”, worse than death. She only used it twice, and the things she saw, she can never unsee. The cold rain gave her a bit of cover from the two men in black suit calmly closing in on her but the thought of being captured frightened her beyond control. Jane’s low life boyfriend Derek who pressured her to give the Simulata a try was already missing, and she presumed that he was taken to one of the hundreds of re-programming facilities. She was scared out of her mind. She quickly looked behind her. The men were still following her through the crowd.
She knew she was out of options.
No one could help her now. The men were known as Night Detectives, commissioned by the city to get junkies like Jane off the streets. They were given absolute powers to do what ever is necessary to protect the citizens of Dante City. Jane only wanted to see what all the buzz was about. The abuse of Simulata device was on the rise and people lost their minds after just one minute in the simulated world. She wished that she never met her loser boyfriend who introduced her to everything bad that happened to her. None of that mattered now. She’s seen the ads, the Night Detectives had higher powers and skills than the police. She was screwed. She desperately looked for any doorways to enter but they were all locked. She ran into a dark alley way hoping that the detectives missed her amongst the hundreds of people giving her some cover. She knew that her life was now forfeit.
Jane ran down the dark alleyway. There was an old hotel with flickering green neon sign. She figured that if she made it inside maybe she has a chance of hiding. She looked both ways, the detectives were no where to be seen. As she approached the hotel entrance, one of the detectives came out from the door. She fell onto the ground. Jane blacked out.
It was a dark empty dirty room. In one of the corners was Jane. On her head was a helmet with matt plastic eye piece that flickered rapid lights into her eyes. Jane was on the floor convulsing and foaming at the mouth, naked. She wasn’t bound but seemed to be powerless to take off the head piece as she laid there struggling against an invisible threat.