Category : Books-Fiction

Sub Category : Science Fiction

Chapter 1:

On the submachine to the mall, I was sitting next to the guy whom I had been seeing for a few weeks, and at this very point, I had found Danny the most detached, most uninterested guy in the Universe. 
"Look, I just wanted to say..."
"SHHHHH!!" Danny interrupted, placing his finger on his lips irritably. 
Rolling my eyes, I looked around at the four other people sitting with us in the submachine, undisturbed by our none existent conversation. The submachine was a transport system to get from a distant location to another at lightening speed, it may be fast, a comfortable ride, taking up to eight passengers at any time, allowing riders to experience a full HD, surround sound movie while the submachine is enroute to it's location. 
Recalling my previous relationship with Sam, and the happiness that filled me, made me miss him more, we broke up five months back, and till this day, I couldn't figure out exactly why we broke up. Why Sam left. I put on the individual virtual reality every seat was given and chose, memory. 

A part of a memory was highlighted in the machine, flashing the relationship I had with Sam. His smile always brightened my day, hugging and bringing a certain warmth inside me.
"I miss you Charlotte." Sam said, smiling as a glow was seen all around him, slightly transparent and disappearing from sight. I reached out, attempting to grab him as he smiled again, "I love you," and disappeared. Tears rolled down my cheek as I took off the headset, engulfed by the darkness of the submachine and the movie still playing. "I love you too Sam," I mumbled, looking down at my shoes. Of course Danny wouldn't have noticed a thing. 

Chapter 2: 

As the movie came to an end, lights in the submachine came on, the vehicle slowed and came to a stop, the doors at the back of the submachine opened.

"You have arrived at Slide Mall, have a good day." The android onboard said.  
Passengers began getting off, Danny turned to me, looking me straight in the eyes, "look Charlotte, it was a great run, but I don't think we should see each other again."
He immediately stood up and bolted off the submachine without so much as a backward glance. 
"Asshole," I mumbled under my breath, hoping no one saw the display of rejection that just happened. 

Being the last to get off, I got a chance to scrutinize the submachine better, "quad titanium, the strongest metal by far, able to withstand the heat of the sun in close proximity," Sam had said once. I let the memory of him sink before strolling up the ramp to Slide Mall, it occurred to me that this was by far the oldest mall in the universe, faded paint and escalators, and always only visited by the ageing citizens. I wondered if it was deliberate for the maintenance of Slide Mall to bring a nostelgia feel to the patrons, or the company running it just didn't care?

From the corner of my eye, I noticed a dog, it had it's teeth showing, growling at a security guard who was trying to chase it out of the building. People began noticing the rabid dog, as they surrounded the scene, "shoo! Shoo!" 
The guard was flinging his arms at the dog, instead, it pounced on the guard, biting onto the poor man's neck, blood flowed onto the ground. People began screaming, as they pushed their way through the crowd of people. Some dropping their shopping bags, others being pushed to the ground. By now, the dog was no longer in view, it was blocked by the panicked bodies running in all directions. But I thought I saw the guard get back up, 'it couldn't be,'  another scream filled the air, followed by another, and another. I couldn't see what was going on, but I found myself running with everyone else, bodies pushing me from the back and side. 

At this point, the escalators were cramped pack, people climbing over the rail and  umping onto a slide. People were screaming and shouting, "hurry! Hurry the fuck up!" 

Why were we running from a dog, what about it has made everyone panick in fear. What exactly was going on? 

"Oi! Move it!" Someone shouted at me from behind, also trying to climb onto an escalator I was stuck on. I had to get out of there, but it was my first time in Slide Mall, and I wasn't sure where I was going.