The Final Heart

“Dani, wake up. Time to get moving.”

The quiet voice was enough to rouse her, but she didn’t move. Sleep hadn’t come easily- or at all, really.

“Dani, come on-”

“I heard you the first time, Ari,” she snapped, moving to sit up in her makeshift bed. Dani pinched the bridge of her nose, her face twisted a tired grimace.

“How’d you sleep?” He seemed unfazed as he knelt, his dark skin illuminated by a flickering neon sign. Dani’s pale skin was more pallid than usual, but it was no surprise.

It’d been a fortnight since the storm blew in- the ‘storm’, being a hellish catastrophe unleashed in the city. Ari was Dani’s ‘brother’- a boy her family had fostered for years, and yearned to adopt. And they almost did.

But two weeks ago, Dani and Ari had been left to their own devices. Literally and metaphorically, as they intended to spend Ari’s birthday indulging in games. They’d been mostly oblivious to the weather that rolled in- despite hearing tales of how tornadoes could wreak havoc, people had all but forgotten about the weather in these days. Wiring and cables were run underground, buildings were made with materials what were considered indestructible. It was so easy to set the housing frames and bury them, anchoring buildings solidly to the earth, with unique design shapes to simply minimize effects of things like that,

But when an eerie, warbling alarm split through the city, it seemed to hold its breath.

It wasn’t a storm siren, they’d heard those before. No, this was something new. But they recognized it immediately. Their TV flipped from the now forgotten game, revealing their parent’s panicked gazes. It was a live call from their car, and despite the panic in their voices, their mother did her best to stay calm. The quality of the car’s camera was sharp, though, and they could see a frightening scene of lights flashing wildly and cars speeding, the drivers seemingly in utter panic. But before the screen went black, Ari and Dani had been given an order- one they’d had burned into their memories since childhood. Despite their terror, they obeyed. Dani searched frantically through her mother’s massive closet, eventually finding a small cardboard shoebox, out of place in such a sleek home. When she turned, revealing it, Ari tapped the screen of a tablet several times, before the massive house plunged into utter darkness. The windows automatically lightened, as they were programmed to do, leaving the pair enough light to make their way outside.

And so began the longest two weeks of their lives.

Dani touched her chest lightly, confirming the heart-shaped locket was still there. She gave Ari a single nod, and he sighed shakily.

“Still no sign of Mom or Dad?” Dani queried softly, standing stiffly from the pile of discarded cardboard she’d been dozing on. The alleyway they rested in had remained quiet, with no cameras, and out of sight from patrols.

Ari shook his head, pulling out a small bag from under his jacket. “No. But, I was able to score us some breakfast.” It was a cheaply made breakfast meal, one meant to be heated. But with nearly every source of electricity down, Dani was content to eat it cold.

“Thanks. Hope you ate, then. We’ve got to get there today.”

Ari made a face, quiet for a moment. “Yeah but two things- one, I still don’t see how you plan to get to the heart of The Tower.”

“And the other?” Dani slipped her glasses on, scanning the streets before walking briskly once more. They held a dual purpose- to allow her to see properly, but they were also engineered to reveal cameras and other monitors. A relatively new creation, but immeasurably useful.

“You didn’t eat enough. You haven’t been, not since…” He paused, noting the tension in her hunched shoulders. Dani had never had the best health, but even now she looked a little thinner than usual. “You know you can talk to me, right?”

She didn’t slow, but nodded. “Yep. But I don’t want to talk. I want to shut this down.”

They continued in silence for a while, traveling as they had the past weeks. For the first week, they’d simply hidden. Chaos had ensued, and with the storm came the soldiers. Their city was known as the heart of all technology- with the core to the fastest internets, home to new inventions, the city that controlled most of the power in the world. And that was the problem.

Because it controlled so much, it was the perfect setting to be taken over. And what was worse is it all went too smoothly, as if planned. The government’s calm encouragement for evacuation, the urgency not to rebel, the orders to comply with… Well, everything. At first it was passed off as a blackout, but even in the next few days of panic, word got around that many of the lead inventors that worked in The Tower were gone. Researchers, engineers. It seemed too coincidental, and even more so since The Tower was the only building to still have full power, and nothing had internet. Lights flickered dimly in the streets, but they were mostly run off rechargeable generators or solar power. But the city was a ghost town, eerily silent, save for the occasional dying hum of a machine. But despite the empty streets, they were slow and careful. Broken glass from storefronts littered the streets, results of opportunistic thieves. They were careful to avoid anything that may make noise, potentially triggering a wandering soldier.

But Ari only sighed, thrusting a hand in his pocket where his phone used to reside. But as they had been taught, phones were trackers. Anything like that was a tracker. So they travelled a few days south with the rest of the terrified masses, slipping their devices into stranger’s hands, gifting them away- and by all accounts, continuing southward. Dani’s glasses were the only thing that they knew were safe. It was uncomfortable, unsettling, being so vulnerable.

“I feel so… Alone.”

Ari heard the tremble in Dani’s voice, and he knew exactly what she meant. “Hey, you’re the introvert. Shouldn’t you be loving this?” He half-heartedly teased.

“Yeah. I guess so.” There was no humor, and he inwardly cringed.

“Sorry. So... what’s your plan to get into The Tower?”

Dani’s steps slowed, and her already thin frame seemed to shrink as she sidestepped a pile of bricks. “Do you remember when Mom let us spend the night in The Tower while she worked? When we’d play hide and seek?”

Ari picked up his pace to a jog to catch up, nearly tripping on the same bricks. “Of course, I always won.”

Dani smiled faintly, but remained quiet for a few minutes. Until Ari prompted her again, and she paused. “Yeah. We’re gonna hide, and we’re gonna seek.”

* * * *

Ari could feel his heart racing as he glanced at Dani, and back at the broken gate. They crouched behind a burned out car, tying to steady their breath. “Looks like the cameras here weren’t affected. No surprise there, is it?” Dani remarked quietly, sighing as she sank to her knees. “So, big brother… You ready to finally help me out?”

Her tone was strange, and Ari’s gut clenched. He’d always known to expect the worst, hope for the best. His response was soft, and he almost prayed she wouldn’t answer. “Always.”

Dani nodded, reaching into her hip pocket and pulling out a ring of keys and a metal card, jingling quietly. “Mom made two copies, in case Dad lost his again. You’ll probably need this. And this.”

Ari froze as she dropped the keys in front of him, before unclasping her locket.

“Mom told me what needs to be done. They knew this was coming. I don’t know how much she told you, but they’ve suspected The Tower would be a target, and she was right. They can’t get control. Whoever controls The Tower controls the world. You’ve gotta take this to the Heart, open it, and… Well, you’ll figure it out.”

Ari blinked. “Dani, do you have any idea how many sci-fi clichés you sound like? Like seriously? I mean, this whole thing, honestly-”

“Right, it’s like an electric apocalypse.” She chuckled, but there was no mirth. “I see what you mean though. But… Yeah.”

“For real though, what’s your plan? Have you seen these soldiers? Who knows how many more there are.” Ari picked up the keys and took the locket, his expression guarded.

Dani sucked in a shaky breath, crouching as she twisted her messy bun a little tighter. “You’re the long track star, I’m not that kind of runner. But I’m going in first, I’m going to check and see if it’s clear. When- if they catch me, that should leave it clear for you to get to the Heart.”

Ari scoffed, his face betraying the fact he simply didn’t believe her. “Don’t be stupid, I’m not letting you run in and get busted. We had a plan all along, every day. And we talked about how to get around and distract-”

“Dude, there’s not time for that. Not now. I’m-… I’m out of my insulin, Ari.”

A chill ran through him, and he stared at her in disbelief. “You didn’t tell me? When did you run out?”

“The bottle broke a little over a week ago. I thought we’d get here sooner, and I didn’t think it’d be a problem.” Dani had been diabetic as long as she could remember. She’d always been careful to have plenty, and this completely took him by surprise.

“Look, there’s a pharmacy a few miles-”

“Look how long it took us to get here, dingbat. We can’t stop and go back.” She rolled her eyes, tightening the laces on her sneakers.

“I can run it. That’s what I was in track for, remember? Cross country?”

“Nah. I’ve got a better idea. Follow me, stay out of sight, and get to the heart.”

* * * *

Ari paused, standing in a room he’d seen only once. It looked unlike the sleek, glowing interior one would expect in a room of such importance. The central control of the world’s internet. More like a fancy office, with a variety of computers that were clearly locked, and a dozen cameras. But he swiped a sleeve across his cheek, wiping a stray tear. Dani had bolted, hardly pausing as she frantically unlocked doors, despite the small swarm of uniformed men that followed her. But it was the shots that took her down. Ari’s heart felt like it had been crushed as she crumpled to the floor, but he was determined she wouldn’t have fallen in vain.

He ran a nail under the locket, cracking it open. He expected a small instruction manual to flutter out, but it looked to be a small SD. He turned it in his hand, looking for any clue as to what to do with it. One of the computers flickered, a small one with a clear panel. The screen read: “Please Insert Card. Final Heart in progress.”

“The hell does that mean?” He muttered, all but stomping over to the device. It took a minute to locate the slot, but he shoved the card in, and the screen flickered once again.

“Step complete. Confirming shutdown orders.”

Ari wasn’t sure what he was shutting down, but it was beyond bizarre- there was no security, no passwords, nothing. It seemed way too easy. The computer screen flashed white, as did the others. He stepped back, startled as coding began to flash by on every computer- he’d seen this once before, when he accidentally wiped his own laptop. Then it clicked- he was wiping the internet. Not just off one computer, but off every one in the world, he suspected. Their enemies had no more power.

And Dani didn’t die in vain.