Hong Kong, 2060

     -Chi-ya Zhou-

It was a chilly December night, but the heated walls of my dad's office made the room warm. I

was doing an internship at the Government Relations building where he worked. While it wasn't

very fun to sort files by date and alphabetically on the large Flexi-screen from 7 PM to 9 PM, it

gave me some money to buy some personal items.

Besides, since my dad was usually at meetings in rooms on the secretive upper floors or on his

phone, he was usually not in his office, which left me alone with the highest government

technology around me. I was zooming in and out on parts of the city and chatting with my

friends on the super-fast Internet of the Flexi-screen when my Dad walked in. Immediately I

minimized those two screens and opened up the folders screen, picking up right were I left off a

few minutes ago.

Luckily, he was on his phone confirming a meeting with his boss. A few seconds later, he 

finished his call and slid his phone into his creaseless white business suit and nodded at me.

"How's work going, Chi-ya? Did you finish the business trips folders from a few nights ago?" he

asked me.

"Yeah, and the ones of your appointments," I replied. He breathed a sigh of relief and gave me

a quick smile. My dad was younger than my mom but he showed some gray hairs already.

"That's my girl. I'll be leaving now. It's past 9:30. You'll be okay on the Flexi-Tube on the way

back?" he asks me.

I nodded. "Of course, Dad. Be safe. See you later."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It was about time to go. I stretched my arms and zoomed out of the Forever 21 I was checking

out in a mall outside of Hong Kong and shut down the Flexi-screen. Immediately, it turned back

to glass and blended in with the wall.

Suddenly, I heard shouts downstairs, and the pounding of footsteps. My heart began to race

and I stepped towards the door. "RAID! EVERYBODY CLEAR OUT OF THE BUIL-" someone

yelled, and I heard some gunshots.

I stumbled out of the chair, grabbed my phone and my pod on the table, and emitted a short cry

when I stubbed my toe on the leg of the table.

Now there was more frenzied shouts and more shots. I had only heard of breaches on TV

before, and would never have had expected to be caught in the middle of one. I couldn't think

straight. I was sweating too much and the room seemed to spin, black dots outlining my vision. 

Oh my god oh my god oh my god  I kept repeating to myself. I might be dead in a few minutes. If

those Invalids burst through the door right now...

I actually had no clue what to do. Here I was, trapped on the seventh floor. I swiveled my gaze

to the window and felt myself move towards it for a chance of a hopeless escape, but then I

looked down and with despair, saw people graffiting the sides of the building with red spray

paint, the color of love and a symbol of Invalids. It looked like blood splattered on the walls.

I rushed over to my phone and put the emergency number in, but there was no signal. An

Invalid must have had disabled all wireless connections before they carried out the breach. I

couldn't stay in here. I heard them slowly moving up the floors, their shouts and footsteps

becoming louder and louder. I had to get out.

I grabbed a small stun gun in one of the safe cabinets in the back in case a breach ever

happened. With shaking fingers, I loaded it and moved towards the door. I could almost hear

the individual shouts now. They were only a floor or two away.

I opened the door and quietly closed it behind me. Instantly, my senses hightened and my heart

quickened even more. Running down the hallway, I turned left, right, and left again, towards an

exit that was at the far side of the seventh floor. I would probably hide in the staircase until it

was all over. Going up to the roof wasn't an option since I would be trapped, and neither was

going down to the lower floors where the Invalids were swarming.

I heard footsteps behind me. In an instant, I turned around and shot the gun. Although the

Invalid was wearing a black hoodie with the hood up covering her face and dark-wash skinny

jeans, she had the slender, lithe body of a girl. Immediately, she ducked and raised her own

gun. While I was frantically reloading, she suddenly hit the floor, faint webs of electricity

holding her in a stunned state. Someone had stunned her while I was reloading.

The Invalid that had stunned the girl just now was further ways down the hall, now seemingly

weaponless. I raised my gun and shot at him, but he ducked and held up his hands in

surrender.

"Stop! Chi-ya Zhou, stop!" His voice revertebrated down the long hall and my breath caught in

my throat. He knew my name. He knew my name.

This is some huge mistake. No Invalids knew my name. How was it even possible? He

cautiously approached me, his hands still up. "Tell me who you are, or I'll shoot," my voice low

and calm, despite me being terrified. The guy slowly pulled back his hood, revealing his slightly

tanned Asian face and dark hair. 

My heart stopped.

It was the new boy in my World History class. Ky-Tsung.