They continued through the city, careful to not stand out, all the people around them doing their own thing almost robotically. It was now that James saw the impact of the Elites’ work in evidence. Everyone busying themselves, but not really acting like themselves. Their self-expression had been rubbed away and replaced with a set of instructions, each person a cog in a wheel that turned the Elites’ world. This is why they were taking these risks, to free these people, to make them human again. James' phone beeped and when he looked down, he saw that a message had popped up from Jarrah. It instructed him to throw his phone away over the next bridge, making sure the river took it. It was too risky for any of them to have any phone that could be tracked, it was imperative to destroy them. So, James did just that, tossing it with all his might into the fast-flowing river below, the phone smashing against rocks as it was pulled downstream. To James' relief the rest of the journey was uneventful. They kept a low profile, and within an hour they were nearing the point where they were to meet and group together for the last leg of the journey.
Ben’s Apartment
Danny sat in Ben's apartment, both of them anxiously awaiting the call.
“Do you want another cup of coffee?” Ben asked him.
“No, if I have another cup, I think my head is going to explode” Danny replied.
Ben and Danny had met at college; they were both in the same Maths class and had struck up a friendship straight away. Ben was the kid from a rich household, teased by most at college but welcomed into Danny's group of friends with open arms. Other kids resented his wealth, and used any excuse they could to make it known, from making rhymes up about his unusual curly hair to mocking his overly-pale complexion. Ben had a thick skin though and eventually had the last laugh when one would-be bully tried to make the teasing physical. The bully was unprepared for Ben's after-school Taekwondo and went home red-faced, not just because of the embarrassment, but also because of the blood.
Danny's phone suddenly chimed with a message, as did Ben's. They were both told to destroy their phones immediately, as they had been compromised and it's possible they could be next to be traced. Everyone had already taken precautions from the onset, deleting any social media accounts, and staying away from the internet. They had needed their phones as they still had to generally look like they were living normally, but now normality had completely gone out of the window they seemed unnecessary. Ben took both of their phones, placed them into the microwave, set the programme to high and watched them spark themselves to death.
Then the other phone rang, the phone.
“Hello” Danny said.
“Danny?” Sheryl said, to which he confirmed it was, “The meeting point is underneath the bridge at Old West Lane. There will be two guards waiting for you in a silver car, you must go now”.
Danny put the phone down, flicked the self-destruct and called Ben over.
“Dan, put that thing down” Ben shouted.
“Oh, damn, yeah” Danny shrieked, throwing the phone at the floor, shortly before it burst into a few discreet flames, scorching the carpet, "Sorry, I was trying to remember where Old West Lane is”
“It's about twenty minutes away, along High Street” Ben replied, “We got to go yeah?”
Danny nodded as he stood up. They both pulled their coats on and collected what little bits they needed. Danny took his lucky watch and out of habit, his credit cards. Ben took two small boxes, something he had been working on lately. He was an expert in Nano-technology; it was a science that was getting more and more funding lately, his own research especially. Originally, he had no idea who the benefactor was, but with the events of this week he was guessing that it was probably Sheryl, as she knew an awful lot about his work when she contacted him. They were making small robots smaller and smaller, so that they were able to get to those places that humans couldn't reach. Clever programming allowed them to make simple decisions for themselves. As long as they fell within a strict set of parameters, they could choose what outcome was needed, it was exciting stuff. They were also so versatile, being able to be shaped into all sorts of forms, a colony of Nano-bots could take on practically any appearance if programmed correctly.
They looked at each other, gave themselves a nod of camaraderie like they were in an action movie and left the comfort and safety of Ben's apartment. Everything that could happen was now a guessing game, the only thing they didn't have to guess at was the meeting point, as apparently Ben knew where it was. Ben knew that the area didn’t have such heavy surveillance; it was a run-down part of the city. The Elite would eventually clear it up, but it wasn't a priority for them for now. There would be hordes of non-Neuro-Net users hiding out there, so the next twenty minutes could get quite interesting. They dashed through the nearby neighbourhoods, wanting to get there as quick as they could, and within fifteen minutes they were near the outskirts.
“I know it’s strange circumstances” Danny said, “But it will actually be good to see everyone”.
“Definitely. It might make things feel a bit more normal again” Ben said.
But who was he kidding? Normal? They would be hiding out in the wilderness, planning to strike back with whatever means they could; there was nothing remotely normal about that.
Slick back
Slick back inserted the device into his laptop, clicked a few buttons and the recording sprang to life. All of Tom's memories from the last day were projected into the space around them.
“Okay, let's see what we've got” Story face said as
