Fragment 1

Seattle’s gone. Not just the city—the people, the infrastructure, the meaning of it. One day, news was reporting a medical mystery. The next, we were watching black-and-white security feeds of people tearing each other apart in the streets. We tried to keep working. Tried to focus on the Rift studies, on calibrating the resonance monitors like any of it still mattered. But every day, fewer staff came in. Then one morning, Dr. Salin locked herself in the clean room and wouldn’t stop screaming. Not out loud—inside our heads. That’s when I knew the Dark wasn’t just something we were studying anymore. It was listening. Learning. We were supposed to send samples west for analysis. That was the protocol. But we cut the line. We had to. What’s the point of studying entropy when it’s outside the walls with a human face? I think… I think the Rift opened wider that day. Or maybe it always knew what was coming.