"Personally, I think they're a cult."

“Everyone’s talking about it! Have you seen it yet?”

Evan shook his head, “No, I haven’t. Probably won’t either.”

Gabby turned and looked at him fully, “What? Why?”

“Personally, I think they’re a cult.”

“You are crazy!” Gabby shook her head, “It’s only the latest and coolest cell phone yet.”

Evan smiled, “Yet. They’ll come out with another one next year,” he chuckled, “Next month actually.”

Gabby shook her long brown hair over one shoulder, “Whatever. You’re just jealous cuz you don’t have one.”

Evan leaned closer, “Seriously, Gabby have you thought about this?” 
He swept his hand around the break room where every person was hunched over a glowing screen.

“I mean look at us. We’re so connected to our phones that we don’t connect with the person sitting next to us.”

He shook his head, “I really think it’s a sign of end times.”

Gabby sighed, “Oh geez, Evan, really? End times?” 
She rolled her eyes, “Sometimes I wonder about you.”

Evan sat back, shrugging.

“Well, maybe not end times but I’m telling you, they,” he made air quotes, “know more about you than you know about yourself. And you give it to them every time you tap on that screen.”

He pointed at her phone.

Gabby cocked her head, “I never figured you for a conspiracy theory nut.”

“I’m not a nut. But think about it. I mean, really, every time you look at a website, every email or text you send goes somewhere. And I believe they,” air quotes again, “are tracking it.”

Gabby grinned, “Okay, and why do they,” she exaggerated air quotes, “whoever they are, care that I’m looking at a website to buy make-up. Or that I shop online at Macy’s.”

Evan looked uncomfortable, “Maybe they don’t care about Macy’s but they can tell a lot about people by their shopping patterns. And what they buy,” he shrugged, “Remember Captain America and the Winter Soldier? The bad guys could tell what your politics were or how you’d react if there was a war. And then they could target you.”

Gabby groaned, “Ugh, now you’re talking about a movie. A movie based on comic books no less. I mean, really,” her voice trailed off as she hunched over her cell phone.

Evan shook his head and sighed as he looked at everyone else, eyes glued to their cell phones.

“I believe you,” a voice whispered in his ear.

Evan turned to his left, “What? Who?”

A young woman with wispy blond hair hanging in her face stared at him with large green eyes.

“I believe you,” she said again softly, “I thought the same thing when I saw that Captain America movie. Have you ever seen the Terminator Genisys movie?”


Evan nodded once.

She nodded at the rest of the room, “The sheep give up their identifies without question. But not me,” then she looked at him, ”And I’m thinking not you.”

Evan shook his head.

“So what are we going to do about it?” she asked.

“Do? What do you mean, do?”

“Well we can’t just sit back and watch it, can we?”

“Uh, I’m just trying to get through my chem class,” he gulped nervously, “I’m not ready for a revolution.”

She shook her head, “Too bad.”

She slipped something into his hand, “When you're ready, I'll be around.”

He looked at a tiny piece of paper and saw a name, Raven, and a phone number but when he looked up and she was gone.