Act I: Layers

I was startled by the phone ringing beside me. I opened my eyes and reached for the phone to shut the alarm and check the time. It was still dark outside, but the traffic noise is almost unbearable. I grabbed my glasses and a glass of coffee and proceeded to my balcony. I looked around the skyscrapers that pierces the clouds and the flying automobile that decorated the vast sky while I take my time sipping on my cup of coffee. It was almost seven when I looked at the holoboard at the adjacent building beside mine. I took a bath and chose a fresh new suit for the office.

The mood in the streets is very different. The relatively peaceful balcony which cannot be compared to the chaos happening 40 floors below. Walkway and road repairs is always on-going, people chatter on their phones like there is no tomorrow, the police continue to blare noisy and incomprehensible announcements that overlaps on the noise of the jackhammer destroying the unrepairable roads due to something exploding last night, maybe someone blew himself again, I thought. The policeman and their companion droids are asking some bystanders questions while some are escorting men and women to the back of a heavy armored vehicle their faces show their sorrow and pain as they are tagged with an red tattoo on their wrists.

The subway train arrived at my office just 5 minutes before my meeting. I grabbed my bag and prepared my passport for checking. The police stretched out his hand signaling me to give him my passport. He asked me some questions, just the regular stuff, then handed me my passport while saying, "Welcome to Stuttgart, Mr. Kennedy. If you have any information on powers, please contact the military or the order police. You will be rewarded handsomely."

The ordeal was almost finished when the alarms started blaring. The red lights shone brightly and the people inside the room stood up and activated their shielding. We followed the lights as per protocol.

"Those dumb mutts again. This will be the second time this week." The man on my back murmured to his self.

We strolled down the stairs for almost a minute then the piercing noise of the wall collapsing startled some people making them hesitant to proceed down, but most of the people still pushed forward.

"The shield will protect us so don't worry!" The people at the back shouted.

Many people, protected by the shield given by the Schutzstaffel, survived the accident when they were hit by the blunt broken concrete, but some are still impaled by the metal braces since the shield cannot protect against sharp objects, they just penetrate it. We proceeded down the bunker where we treated those people who are experiencing the backlash of the shield to the body. Some started puking, others experienced headaches and some started to faint after turning off the shield. Only few of us did not feel the backlash or just hiding it by taking care of others who are more affected.

Few hours have gone but the bunkers are yet to be opened. I stayed at the corner near the door and fiddled with my mobile and tried to connect to the internet, but it seems that they powered down the whole grid and killed the communications. The newer radio that was equipped in the bunker was non-functional since the mobile satellites are down so some people fiddled with the old radio comms in the room at the back but failed many times before successfully turning it on but there is only static through the limited frequency band of the ancient tech. We waited for another hour, the mood is starting to degrade, and many are complaining on how slow the order police in eradicating the powers but then the bunker door started to open slowly. It was dark outside when we got out of the bunker, collapsed concrete, wrecked vehicles, dead bodies of the police and powers littered the streets.

We walked to the nearest subway, but the building already collapsed so we agreed to go to other bunkers. We were greeted by a forcefully opened bunkers and its occupants in a blood bath the walls was decorated with claw marks and bullet holes. We went to every bunker near us but it's all the same, it is all bloodbath. The silence was shattered by something in the shadows as we reach the police office, the only brightly lit building in the neighborhood. We flashed our lights in the shadows but saw nothing except the bodies of destroyed droids. We inspected them and like the walls of the bunkers they are clawed but their fusion reactor is still radiating heat, so it is still new. I asked them to become more cautious while we proceed to the station.

"POWERS!" A man shouted further back followed by screams. The people began running for their lives and going directly to the station. I directed them inside, many of them panicking and grabbing anything to help them enter the narrow slit of the door. I felt a slap at the back of my head and the last thing I saw was the Reich's flag, the human-like face of our pursuers as I hear the screams of the people and my neck cracking.

It was painless and swift…