Rewired: Project Insula

Chapter 14

The blank stare that Meera had first encountered on the day she met Daniel Green, had made an unexpected return. This was evidence of a mind over encumbered with thoughts and blurry recollection of surreal events, recently gone by.

The first time it was the near impossible realisation of being a part of and seeing your best friend killed in a barbaric attack. Not only had it been hard for Meera to think normally about the tragic and sudden death of Rhys Trent, due to the unusual circumstances surrounding any kind of random brutal killing, but also not knowing why, who or what exactly, was responsible.

Reclaiming her mind from the lost seas of an almost hypnagogic trance was not easy. Although still surreal - her thoughts, beliefs and emotions had begun to rewire themselves into her mind, something in which she had only realised when she had stood up for herself back in Triller's office. Before that, being self-aware was not particularly something that she could do, but instead she was nothing but the shell of her previous self, full of internalised, but confused emotions. The kind of shell a person becomes in their first moments of solidarity after a traumatic event.

Now Meera sat in that same trance. This time not staring through a concrete wall, but instead the creases in the old leather car seat, sat in front of her. After the few days she had experienced, life in general had been like fantasy and although the reclamation of her stable mind had begun, the explosion in which she had seen minutes ago, made sure that she wouldn't become cocksure about becoming completely sane again, anytime soon.

Her silence and inability to think would not be cured this time by a strange man with a flask of tea. This time, she would have to take the long route in realising the surreal events in one's life are in fact real, without Daniel's shortcut of soft words and white lies.

The man driving the car, PC Bailey, had attempted to talk to Meera, as he too was experiencing the shock of witnessing such a spectacle of force and fire. His method of dealing with immediate shock wasn't like Meera's, he wouldn't sit and stare his soul away, until able to have an internal fight with his own thoughts. No, instead he wanted to talk about it, talk about how he felt, what it could have been, etc. This was another perfectly normal way to deal with the impact of a distressing situation, however it would be fair to assume that PC Bailey didn't lose his best friend, days earlier, in a grotesque and horrifying way.

PC Bailey had given up on asking questions and commenting on what happened when he saw the dead look in Meera's gaze. The long, infrequent blinking and cold stare was an expression that he was unfamiliar with, but he understood it to be shock. He managed to figure it best not to speak anymore, unless spoken too, however he also felt unsettled by the young girl's expression, or lack thereof.

Meera's gaze finally moved towards the only other noise she could hear other than the ringing that she had become so accustomed too. It was a vibrating rattle that rung through the car, a sort of metallic buzz.

Her eyes began to follow a small metal can which bobbed up and down, left to right, merrily as the car cruised along the road.

Without her realising, PC Bailey had caught the change in her stare through his rear-view mirror. He quickly realised that she had spotted the can of energy drink that he had picked up earlier from one of the bars he had to evacuate.

“Did you want the drink?” He said, trying to catch her eyes in the mirror.

Meera ignored the mans words and instead continued to watch as the can moved around helplessly.

“I-I haven't had any?” He continued.

Meera's eyes moved to meet his in the mirror as she glared directly at him without emotion. Her gaze soon reverted to its previous position.

The man gulped.

“O-okay..” He said, trembling slightly.

The car continued down the road, each bump and hole moving Meera around as she sat helpless to resist, her eyes bouncing along with the can of drink.

“You know, I'm quite thirsty… now.” The man said, seemingly worried again.

Meera once again ignored the man's words. She had no reason or effort to respond to him.

“You wouldn't mind…” The man looked back in the mirror once again.

“Would you?” He finished.

Meera closed her eyes shut for around five seconds, before opening them to a scowl directly at the mirror and into PC Bailey's eyes.

The sharp, cold look continued to worry him, as he gulped down his anxiety once again.

“I'm just going to…” he said, reaching slowly towards the drink, as if Meera was a chained-up Lion sat in the backseat.

As PC Bailey's fingertips gripped the top of the can, the metallic buzz stopped, allowing the muffled ringing to return to Meera's head full time.

Without picking the can up and out of the cup holder, PC Bailey snapped the metal tag, piercing the mouth piece with a satisfying Kshhh. He then removed his hand from the can and back to the steering wheel, leaving the new open can to return to its buzz inducing jiggling.

Meera felt her wrist vibrate and instinctively looked down at her watch. The bright screen revealed far too much information for Meera's eyes to digest. All she could salvage was a recent message from Daniel saying, “how's the journey home?”.

She lowered her wrist back to its natural position and went to stare back at the hypnotic dance of a metal can in a cup holder.

Alas, the can was gone. PC Bailey was drinking shakily from it, showing off his symptoms from the shock.

“Aaaaah” PC Bailey gasped outwards in satisfaction, before returning the can to the cupholder.

…

“Oh Evie, don't be so ridiculous!”

“Ridiculous!? Have you seen all the stuff on f*******:?!” Evie snapped back barely before he could finish his sentence.

Matt sat down, his face buried in his hands.

“People are saying that we are under attack again! Just like 2023 all over again!” She continued, stuffing nappies and small clothes into a bag.

Matt sat back and shook his head.

“Evie, baby, just calm down okay? People always say s**t on f*******:, the news said that the military are on standpoint and the SCO are already on the scene.” He said, calming his voice.

Evie looked up at Matt, still hunched over from packing a bag.

“Oh, and you trust the news?” She barked.

“And you trust random people on f*******:?” He retorted, losing the calmness in his voice slightly.

“Matt you heard how close that blast was! What if there are more? What if men with guns start massacring people in their homes again?”

“And what if someone crashes into you when you leave? Or if something happens to you because you left the flat?” He replied, now standing up.

Matt walked over to Evie who was now stood silent, tears beginning to fall down her dark face. He gently placed his large hands on her cheeks, wiping away the tears with his thumbs.

“Evie, whatever happens, happens.” He said, looking into her eyes.

“What's important is that we are together.” He continued before hugging her head against his chest.

Evie let out a long exhale and looked up at Matt.

“You're right.” She said, slightly choking on the words.

“As long as we are together.” She said, allowing a smile to cross her face.

Matt and Evie had been together for ten years. They had met at a night club on Matt's 18th birthday in 2022 and got married six years later.

Alysha, their baby girl, had arrived into the world just seven months ago. In the wake of the 2023 attacks which had taken friends and family from both of them, they had been apprehensive to bring a child into a world full of conflict and division; a decision that had soon changed its tune when Evie fell pregnant unexpectedly in October of 2030.

Matt took Evie's hand and led her over to the sofa. He sat her down and sat opposite her, now holding both of her hands.

He stared into Evie's eyes which had a glisten to them from the tears, and he smiled.

“Nothing is going to happen too us baby.” He said, tears now beginning to appear from his eyes.

…

Evie laid on Matt's chest, peacefully sleeping. He had his smartglasses on, revealing the rare sight of sleeping Alysha, whilst his hand softly stroked through Evie's black hair.

Matt understood Evie's concern, hell, he would do anything to ensure the safety of his family, but he knew that Social Media sites would only cause unnecessary anguish and fear. He stood by the idea that most of the corruption that once plagued television News was now safely embedded in online news distributors which would take full advantage of the idiotic and fearful public that spend their lives on sites like f*******: and Twitter.

The local News had been reporting live, during the explosion, which is what frenzied Evie into trying to leave. They had been watching because there had been a huge Police checkpoint opened, just a few miles away from them, so it was interesting to see what the cause for all the commotion was.

It wasn't until a few minutes into the broadcast, that a huge explosion was seen and heard on the cameras, causing the feed to be cut. The reporters urged everybody to stay calm but vigilant, and to stay home.

Matt began to feel the urge to sleep, so he gently moved Evie's head onto a pillow and got up from the comfort of the sofa. He walked over to the small wooden table, positioned next to the 4th floor window and sat on the chair.

With a pinching and pushing gesture, Matt moved Alysha's camera feed onto the table's surface, allowing him to have full view out into the quiet London night. There were no cars passing, no young lads shouting and swearing; and the rarest of them all, there were no protests or marches happening.

He realised that the lack of any kind of life was strange, no matter where you were in London. The police must have evacuated and cornered off a huge area. Either that, or people were too afraid to come outside thanks to the recent news about the explosion.

Before he could fully appreciate and digest the feeling of a tranquillity and quiet in London, he saw some headlights approaching from the left, the direction of the explosion.

A jet black Ford Mondeo, fairly new, came into view. It was travelling at a very low speed and seemed to be swerving from side to side.

Matt frowned at the odd sight and opened the window for a better look. The car continued to approach and continued to swerve from left to right, hitting the left side curb over and over.

“Hey!” Matt shouted out the window, waving his hands.

The way the car was being driven, the direction it was coming from and the events from the past half hour, caused alarm bells to ring in his head. Perhaps this person was injured and needed help?

He shouted again, this time using the strobe light on his glasses to try and attract attention.

The car came to a stop in the street outside the window. The tyres scraped along the curb with a uncomfortable scraping noise.

“Wait there!” He shouted. “I'm coming to help!”.

With this, Evie woke up and lifted her head slightly to look over at Matt, who was currently stood shouting out of the window.

“What is going on?” She said groggily.

Matt quickly grabbed his jacket from the back of the chair and put it on over his white vest.

“I think someone needs help. Stay here.” He said.

Evie frowned.

“What do you mean?” she said, now more alert and eyes wider.

Matt stopped halfway to the door and kissed Evie on the forehead.

“It's nothing baby, just someone driving, and they have stopped outside. Looks like they might have a problem. Go and keep an eye on Alsyha, I won't be long.”

With that, he opened the front door and left.

“I love you!” Evie shouted after him.

Evie sat up and rubbed her eyes. She reached out onto the coffee table for a drink that Matt had bought her earlier in the day. VITA Energy Drink was written on the metal can.

…

The car was still running when Matt walked over too it. His flashlight shone brightly onto the jet-black body paint.

Each window was fully tinted with black, meaning he couldn't see anything inside the vehicle, even with the use of his torch.

Matt began to feel slightly scared, the car just sitting there, idling, with nobody stepping outside or anything, unsettled him. He looked back up to the window to his apartment but could see nothing. With a gulp and a clench of his fists, he walked up to the passenger door.

“Hello?” He called out, hoping that the tension would be lowered by a response.

He winced at the silence.

“I'm going to open this door now okay?” He said loudly, hovering his hand over the metal button.

He pushed the button inwards and with a click, the door unlocked, allowing him to open the door.

“No don't!!” A voice suddenly shouted.

Matt let go of the door and tried to look in the direction of the voice.

“Hello?” He shouted back.

“Round the other side.” The voice replied.

He walked around the front of the car, which he could now see was badly damaged, and saw a young girl sat on the floor against the car.

“Everything okay?” He asked.

The girl looked no older than 21 and had a beautiful Asian complexion which he could make out thanks to the torch.

The girl looked over to Matt and raised a hand in front of her eyes.

“Oh, sorry” Matt said, realising that he was blinding her with the light.

Matt snapped his fingers in front of his face and the light turned off. The girl, lowered her hand from her face slowly and sat in silence.

“What happened?” He asked, keeping a safe distance.

The girl shook her head and looked down onto the ground.

“Let me help. Please” He continued.

“We're fucked.” The girl said, now looking at Matt, showing off her horrifyingly vacant stare.

“W-why? What's happened?” He replied, shaken from her response.

“I had to kill him” She said, now looking down again.

“I didn't have a choice.”

“Kill who?” Matt replied, now visibly scared.

“He went crazy like the others…” She said.

“Others?” Matt asked, realising that was probably the least important of his questions.

“There is something terrible going on.” She said.

“We are all going to die.”