The World after The Great Flash.

They called this day the Great Flash. Or the Zero Day.

But actually, it lasted only a few seconds.

These few seconds were enough for the thousand-year history of mankind development to stop and to reverse at breakneck speed, like an airplane entering a steep peak and striving to collide with the ground.

People were so used to soaring in the clouds of their own illusions of power and permissiveness, that as soon as reality threw them from a height and mercilessly hit them hard on the ground, they could no longer rise.

A powerful electromagnetic flash that covered the planet that day instantly disabled all electronic systems. This lasted only a few seconds, but this short period of time was enough to start a series of technological disasters that launched the destruction of the infrastructure of the entire planet.

Hundreds of air crashes, disruptions in the operation of nuclear reactors, disconnection of communication networks. Not a single spare generator worked as if something specifically interfered with the restoration of balance. Hundreds of thousands of people were brought in to deal with the consequences of these accidents, but that was only the beginning.

Strong electromagnetic radiation proved fatal for tens of millions of people. Those who had problems with their heart or with health in general, could not withstand such a pressure on the organism, as a result, someone died instantly, and someone passed away within the next days after the flash.

The medical system fell into collapse.

The decline in immunity around the planet has led to the fact that the diseases that were defeated earlier came back with renewed vigor. The plague that conquered Europe in the Middle Ages was easy fun compared to the new challenge.

The population of the planet was legally sent to forced isolation. Countries have closed borders and stopped communicating with neighbors.

The rupture of economic ties led to a global crisis, the consequences of which were shortages and multiple military conflicts. Those countries that could not meet the domestic needs of their market turned their attention to foreign territories.

Torn apart by epidemics and war, many countries have ruined themselves completely.

People were left to die in the streets since there was no one to help them. Everyone fought for himself.

If this continued, then there would be no trace of the past civilization left.

Marc Technologies, led by its president, acted as a mediator in all this, in a matter of weeks subjugating scattered remnants of humanity to their power.

Each person was connected to a common data system using a chip built into the body.

Printed money was abolished.

Personal documents were abolished too.

The right to privacy was abolished as well.

The chip collected data on health status, vaccinations, past illnesses, personal information, access to a bank account. All that a person could or should have interacted with, he had to get permission for this.

If one has violated the rule - automatic money charge from the account.

The second violation - a complete account lock without the ability to buy food.

If you do not meet the requirements of society - social isolation, all personal data will immediately be transferred to the blacklist. No money, no work, no health insurance.

In case if the sensor showed any symptoms of the disease, then all the windows and doors in the house will be locked automatically, without the possibility of going outside, and your apartment turns into a personal cage.

The sensor showed that the symptoms are serious and the possibility of a fatal outcome is higher than five percent - the mop up squad will get rid of the body, after receiving death confirmation in the system, will seal the apartment and there will be no trace of life that was in this place.

These were the realities in which hundreds of children were left without adult support, and their main goal was to live at least one extra day.

And at the head of this system, as a gendarme, was a company that was the master of the whole world and decided who would live and who would die - Marc Technologies.

. . .

Nick put the empty bottle back on the table and focused his attention on the stage. The girl pressed several buttons on the monitor and a three-dimensional projection, about two meters high, flashed in the air.

"Thanks to everyone who managed to come to this meeting today," Ashley gave the hall a charming smile, and Nick's ears did not miss to hear the admiring sighs of several guys sitting in the next row.

"Over the past months, we have been working to create a new program that will allow each participant to connect to our closed system, and those who already have Marc Technologies chips installed will be able to reduce the impact of these chips on their lives."

The girl, with a wave of her hand, turned the projection around the axis, increased its area and the audience got a diagram of the nerve impulses of the brain.

"As you know, according to studies conducted before the flash, a person needs about 21 days to form a habit. Violent isolation during the first pandemic wave made people who were passively spending time lose the ability to think rationally.

Instead of training their brain with some new skills, they accustomed it to inertia and apathy. As a result, when the situation worsened, the protective functions worked.

The brain, seeing a threat to its quiet life, turned off rational perception and people agreed to introduce marc-chips without even thinking about the consequences."

A volumetric projection visually showed how the formation of neural connections influenced the consciousness of people by activating areas of the brain responsible for a sense of fear.

"You see that it is precisely such reactions that allow you to control the consciousness of thousands of citizens, constantly intimidating them by disconnecting them from the global data system.

What we present to you today will reduce this dependence on MarcNet, and our generation will be able to take its first step towards the freedom that our parents once had."

The room was filled with applause when Ashley moved on to the next projection, demonstrating the effect of the new development.

Nick did not take his eyes off the stage, most of the information passed by his ears, but his visual attention was completely focused on the speaker.

Ashley, as always, did not bother about her appearance, slightly disheveled hair, shabby denim overalls, a white T-shirt that fits her shoulders and chest. He was one hundred percent sure that the girl left the laboratory five minutes before the start of the performance, and did not even look in the mirror.

But the enthusiasm and inspiration emanating from her eyes were much better than any beautiful dress in which Nick had never seen her.

The young man did not notice how the lecture ended, and the audience began to leave the room, lively discussing the latest news.

"Hey, Mitchell, I'm so jealous that you can chat with our pretty genius every day. Ashley is really cool! I don't understand how you still haven't hit on her?" one of the guys turned to his tall, broad-shouldered friend who looked like a bodybuilder.

"Tsk, I would love to, but you know how impregnable she is. She is a genius indeed that all her thoughts are crammed with exclusively new developments. However, I dare to notice her ass is really something when she leans in," the guy whistled and winked at his friends with an important look, which made it absolutely clear what he was hinting at. "At such moments, I want to come up from behind and - Agh!"

A clear blow under the knee turned up the guy's leg, he stumbled and fell to the floor. His evil gaze was ready to break the one who decided on such a suicidal idea, but when he saw Nick behind him, his emotions gave way to malice and arrogance. He got up, shook his knees and went to his offender, who was a few centimeters lower than him.

"Teser, with such jokes, you definitely won't live up to the next pandemic wave."

Nick was not even worried about the difference in height and the obvious physical advantage of the enemy, he raised his head and looked at Mitchell with the same challenge, "Whether I live or not is not up to you. But when I hear raunchy conversations, at such moments I want to come up from behind and... well, you know," the young man smiled and Mitchell's face twitched.

Even with all the hostility to this guy, he could not deny that Nick Teser was a very handsome young man. Therefore, many girls secretly admired him and gave up on Mitchell several times, including for this reason.

The guy's brain could not admit that this was only one of the excuses, and in the first place, the fault was his own harmful character. But, like many arrogant people, he preferred to shift the blame for his love failures to Nick, and tried not to miss the opportunity to mock him.

"Have you been offended by our humble male conversation? Hmm, let's think," Mitchell lifted his chin and tapped on it with a forefinger with a thoughtful look, "Maybe it hurt you, because you yourself crave the same, but you can't get it? You think I didn't notice how every time you are ready to drill a hole in Ashley's back when you come to the laboratory? Only bummer, she treats you like a brother and no more."

The guy bared his teeth in a triumphant grin, and Nick barely restrained himself not to send him to the dentist's appointment.

But Mitchell got into courage, and without hesitation poured even more oil into the fire, "What a pity, your dirty blood is disgusting even your best friend."

Nick's last string of patience burst and his fist crashed into the opponent's jaw with all the force, Mitchell flew into the wall, but quickly orientated himself. Pushing himself against the wall, he rushed back to Nick and struck back.

"Do you think no one knows about your connection with Lenali?! I bet that one of your parents was a henchman for these hypocritical Andersons! Otherwise, where do you get such abilities?! Or are you afraid to openly recognize yourself as an experimental rat?! If not for your dirty blood, you would be an unnecessary empty place for anyone!"

"You know nothing!" Nick resisted the pressure of Mitchell with no less fury, this topic was his weak point.

In the first years after the outbreak, when people's health was drastically undermined, and they began to die tens of thousands a day, the hypothesis began to spread in society that universal vaccination was to blame.

When, twenty years ago, the LDM virus spread to the planet, Greenline Inc. and Lee Pharmaceuticals were the ones who developed the vaccine for it, which led to the victory over the infection, but when a new outbreak happened, the former heroes turned into the main enemies.

People hoped that the Lenali Enterprise, who led the two large pharmaceutical companies, would again cope with a new challenge, but this did not happen.

Its owners, the Anderson family, disappeared without a trace, and soon the news of the death of the couple was spread in the media. No one knew the reasons for the death of the couple and considered that most likely they were victims of a pandemic. Their only son, who could know the answer to this question, also went missing.

And although there was no evidence that the vaccine against the first virus had an effect on the human immune system, this rumor firmly settled in people's heads.

And Mitchell was one of those people. His parents died before his eyes in a closed apartment, and the boy, in order to somehow cope with this tragedy, found for himself those to blame for this misfortune.

He heard a lot of talk about Nick, since the guy's name was often heard in their narrow circle, and one of these rumors was that Nick's family worked in the Lenali Enterprise laboratory and that the boy was even friends with the missing son of the Anderson couple.

But none of them knew that in fact, Nick was exactly the missing child himself, for the information about whom in the early years a large sum was assigned.

"You two, stop it now!" a loud, stern voice thundered all over the hall, "Do you even understand what you are doing?!" Armand quickly walked up to the guys and pushed them apart. "Mitchell! Go to the third laboratory! Now! Nicholas, come with me."

. . .

"And what was it now?" Armand asked the young man with a displeased look when they entered his office and the man slammed the door shut from prying eyes and ears.

"Nothing special. Apparently, I didn't get enough sleep, so I couldn't restrain my emotions," Nick muttered under his breath, turning to the side and staring at the gray wall. Now he would prefer to meditate for two hours, looking at a small hole in the wall, then look into Armand's eyes.

The man walked around the desk, sat down in an armchair and, with a slow exhalation, ran a hand through his hair, "Sean, listen," Nick shuddered when he heard this name, he was almost never called like that and it began to seem to him that it was someone else's name, "You have to keep track of your emotions. Your power is growing, and if you release it out of control at least once, it will cause serious problems."

Having received no response from the young man, Armand continued, "If you want to discuss anything, I'm ready to listen to you."

"Oh, just don't turn on the 'caring dad' mode, please. We do not have such a relationship. Your excessive custody misleads Ashley."

"What does Ashley have to do with it?" Armand raised a brow in disbelief. And why did most of their conversations eventually come down to Ashley?

Nick frowned, he could not recognize out loud that for Ashley Armand was like a knight in shining armor from childhood, her Prince Charming and ideal. Unlike this ideal adult man, Nick himself was like a naughty boy, breaking the rules and creating problems.

And at what point did their roles change? Nick was ready to bet that in childhood, Ashley was the cause of all the thrashing that he received from his father for bad behavior.

Armand realized that there was no point in continuing the conversation, he opened a drawer and pulled out a small bundle, "Here. Please bring this to Ashley in the fifth lab. She just needed this item for her new toy."

Nick felt a chill run down his back.

The combination of the words 'Ashley' and 'new toy' did not bode well.

. . .